Halo vs Metroid: The Great Journey
by Ultimate Ridley
Summary: A marine gets corrupted, the Arbiter meets Samus, Ridley saves the Arbiter, an old ally has been discovered loitering on an unknown area...and much, much more in this action packed thriller where the storyline of Halo 3 meets Metroid. It's awesome! T4V
1. The Beginning of the Rivalries

**Halo vs. Metroid:**

**The Great Journey**

Disclaimer: Do keep in mind I do not own Metroid, the Elites, Halo, the Space Pirates, or Samus Aran. They belong to Bungie (Halo) and Retro Studios/Nintendo (Metroid).

Continuation storyline written by Ultimate Ridley.

Halo vs. Metroid is supposed to happen after Halo 3 and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and before Prime 3. Complicated explanations about certain characters being killed in the story and reappearing mysteriously in later games, i.e. Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion perhaps, are all explained on my Homepage's Data Record Room. If you wish to see these, click my name above here and then Homepage on my Profile. It will take you to my Homepage. After that, click Data Record Room on the NavBar and look through the knowledge I post on it. I had to alter the years and storylines a bit, so don't complain about them. My next story will make complete sense, I promise.

Also, I recommend that you should only read this if you are familiar with either Metroid or Halo (as in, BIG wizzes at either) or both. Please enjoy this story full of action, misconception, and many unexpected surprises.

I will add to this story slowly. Enjoy it!

It is year 2557. It has already been five years since John's death. The continuation of Halo 3 was disastrous and unexpected. After John's death, the Arbiter left in his Elite ship with the shipmaster. Lord Hood and his Corps continued to live on Earth, calm...quiet...Earth...

Or so they thought...

* * *

**Earth-Year 2557, Town of Eurok, Nevada**

Lord Hood was standing on a cliff, staring out into the sunset. It was a quiet night. He had no business in commanding anymore, for he retired. The Corps still had their uniforms in their homes, but they were always ready to fight whenever danger came near. (At least, most of them...) Nothing could go wrong ever since the war ended. The Flood was

dead. The Arbiter was gone, so betrayals were unlikely. Life, once again, could be enjoyed, or, perhaps, taken for granted. Now, life would be easy. Or would it?

The Arbiter and the Elites drove off into the distance and far depths of space, searching for their home planet. The search would not be easy, because, even though they didn't know it, they were drifting off course. This is not good especially because they would run into an enemy that would more than demolish their entire race due to misconception...

Lord Hood walked down to his home, just recently built by Marines that have carpenting skills that ran through their family. Most likely the wars are over. The Covenant are

finished, for good. Thank God, thought Lord Hood. He was born with war, with misconception, with his family _gone, _gone for good. He didn't know if he had just made an ally

for future wars, or if he made a terrible mistake-no, if _Johnson _made a terrible mistake-to join forces with the Elites. Oh, well. It doesn't matter to him anymore.

Suddenly, Hood heard a noise from outside of his home.

"What the..." Hood said. Outside was a blue and red explosion.

"Covenant? It can't be!" Hood said to himself. He ran out to his kitchen, and grabbed a walkie-talkie. It had long-distance on it.

"Emergency! Emergency! We have a chemical explosion in the city of Eurok!" Lord Hood told the walkie-talkie after clicking the button.

"Who is this?" the talkie buzzed.

"Lord Hood, former general of the UNSC!" There was a pause.

"Okay, sir. We are on our way," the talkie buzzed back.

After about twenty minutes, Hood heard the roar of Pelicans fly over the rocky hills nearby. He looked over out the window. They were flying towards his home.

A fuse let off, and another red and blue explosion set off. This time, a horrific smell was left behind. The beautiful colors engulfed the Pelicans, and after five seconds of colorful

chemicals in the air and the sounds of crashing Pelicans, their were only demolished ships on the ground, with the cargo hold completely open.

"Oh my God," Lord Hood said. He ran into his closet and picked out an assault rifle, ready to go outside and blast the brains out of whatever was causing those horrible smelling, beautiful clouds of smoke. Once he got outside, he ran out to the site of the chemical explosions and pointed his gun at the site. He looked out and saw a silhouette figure running in past the smoke, undamaged.

"What the-" Hood said. He pulled the trigger and started to shoot uncontrollably. The horrific smell started to wreak past Lord Hood's nose. He started to cough and couldn't control it. It irratated his windpipe. He heard footsteps ahead of him, and he raised his head, still coughing. There was a marine-but he was corrupted with the chemical. This marine was the only marine to survive the crash.

"Are you going to choke on this substance, Lord Hood?" the marine asked. Lord Hood looked down and continued coughing.

"Let me put you out before your throat starts to bleed," the marine said. He lifted a gun up, and, heard from the distance, a gunshot. Lord Hood was shot cleanly in the head, and he fell to the ground. This was probably a better death than your head exploding, which would've happened if the nice, corrupted marine hadn't come by. The marine laughed in a very unnatural and creepy way, that sounded like he could very well be hacking. He walked down the path into the mountains, and, may never come back. Lord Hood lay on the ground, a small hole in his head, not bleeding. What could be going on?

* * *

**Runai Trutlau (The Elites ship)-Year 2557, Somewhere in Space**

The Arbiter was just drifting off into space with his Elites. His homeworld was far away...from their course. Although they may not know it, but soon, a different human will attempt to kill them.

The ship turboed its way through the depths of the starfields, and all it was set to do was find the Elite's home planet. That was the Elites' one and only desire. Suddenly, there was a bump.

"Arbiter! What was that?" the shipmaster called. The Arbiter looked out the window and saw nothing.

"Nothing, perhaps just a traveling comet," the Arbiter replied.

"I do hope so," the shipmaster said quietly. The bump happened again.

"Erhem?" the shipmaster said.

"I do not know what it could be. We are not in an asteroid belt, nor an asteroid stream," the Arbiter said. The shipmaster stared out into space and thought for a moment.

"N'tho 'Eliba Turaga! I need you to put on a mask and see what is going on!" the shipmaster said to an Elite. The Elite did a single nod and followed orders. He reached into a storage department and grabbed a type of mask. The Elite ran to an airlock and shut the door behind him before he opened the airlock to prevent damage to other Elites.

N'tho 'Eliba Turaga (just call him Tura from now on) clawed into the side of the ship silently and slowly climbed down to the bottom of the ship on the outside. He looked around and saw something disturbing. A ship was at the bottom of _their _ship. It was strange. The ship looked a lot like a Phantom, but not completely. It was the shape of a Phantom, but it had orange and red paint on it with a light-green tinted window. Tura pressed a button on his arm and spoke into it.

"Shipmaster! Arbiter! There is a Phantom attached to our ship, its top is attached to our bottom," Tura said.

"A Phantom?" the Arbiter said.

"That could only mean..."

"That they are Elites and we are in our home planet's solar system, or somewhere near it!" the shipmaster cried.

"Our five year journey is almost over!" the Arbiter said. The two of them punched the other's knuckles, and they roared in joy.

"N'tho 'Eliba Turaga! Where shall we meet our brothers?" the shipmaster asked.

"I'm not sure...perhaps the bottom chamber?" Tura said back.

"Let's go," the Arbiter said. The two of them and their Elites started to run down to the lower chamber.

* * *

**Earth-Year 2557, Town of Webat, Colorado**

It was the town of Webat, and many retired marines moved here. No one knows why, though. Most of the marines in the town knew everyone else, but not the one that was walking down the trail. The former marines were just minding their own business, some having dinner with their soulmates, some at the bar partying. One thing was for sure-whatever anyone was doing in Webat, they would stop and watch the corrupted marine pass through the town. And that's just what everyone did. The corrupted marine was blue mainly, and if any skin was shown it was pale. The corrupted marine stopped for a second.

"Why, why, why is everyone staring at me as if I was going to kill you people?" the corrupted marine asked. No answer. He looked around and saw the people terrified. The marine had no idea what he looked like, which would freak someone out for sure. He saw little children with their faces terrified.

"Look, people. I am only passing through this town to get to my..." he didn't know what to say. Would he say 'homeship' or just 'home'? The marine's brain was corrupted mostly, but any part that wasn't corrupted was confused and most likely angry at itself. He continued to walk through the town, and everyone watched him, until he walked away, out of sight. The former marines went back to their business cautiously.

_BANG! _That's always a disturbing noise.

"Oh my God! That marine has a freaking sniper rifle!" a person shouted. They looked over at the marine, who was in zoom. The mothers scooped up their children and brought them inside their homes. One mother got shot, and the child ran into his house.

_Click!_ The sniper rifle was out of ammo, and the corrupted marine had no spare clips.

"Worthless piece of crap!" the marine yelled as he flung the rifle far into the distance.

_Bang!_ A man was brave. He took out his shotgun and started to fire at the marine.

"What is wrong with you? We don't need anymore war here on Earth!" This man apparently was a marine five years ago.

"Earth? Earth?! This isn't Earth! Earth is gone! Destroyed, annihilated! You don't seem to understand. I'm now only half human-" the marine froze. He fell to the ground.

"Okay. He's dead, people!" he yelled out to the town. Everyone came out silently, then started cheering. The corrupted marine was dead...

Or was he?...

* * *

**Runai Trutlau-Year 2557, Somewhere in Space**

The Arbiter and the shipmaster ran to the lower chamber, and climbed down a ladder. It was the bottom chamber. Nothing was there.

"This is strange," the shipmaster said. He started to walk out towards the middle of the bottom chamber.

"Well, brethren. Unfortunately, we have no Elites left, as far as we know. And we, most likely, are not near our home planet," he said.

_BANG! BANG! BANG!_ The shipmaster fell to the floor. The Arbiter was ready to fight back, trying to figure out what exactly that could've been. There was a red and orange suit, with some yellow, and had two huge spheres on its shoulders.

"Die, Space Pirate!" the thing yelled.

'Space Pirate?' the Arbiter thought.

"Excuse me, but there must be some misunderstanding," the Arbiter said. The creature looked over at the Arbiter and shot him with a freezing beam. The Arbiter froze up, all but his head.

"Who by the Hierarchs are you?" the Arbiter mumbled loudly.

"Samus Aran, of the GFS," the creature said.

"Where is Phantoon?" Samus cried.

"Phantoon? I have no idea who you're talking about..." Samus whipped the Arbiter with the grapple beam.

"One of your race's Hierarchs?" Samus said assuringly.

"The shipmaster you shot and I _are _our Hierarchy!" the Arbiter yelled. Samus put her gun down.

"Are you rebel Space Pirates?" Samus asked.

"I have yet to understand what exactly a Space Pirate is," the Arbiter replied.

"This is a trap!" Samus yelled and raised her gun.

"No! This is a misconception!" the Arbiter yelled.

"It won't be a misconception once your little 'shipmaster' here is dead!" Samus raised her gun and pointed it at the shipmaster, who was just becoming conscious.

"You have no reason to do that," the Arbiter said.

"We are not Space Pirates," he added. Samus put her gun down and closed her eyes. The Arbiter lifted up both arms and pushed Samus against the wall and held her.

"What is your species and what gives you the right to overkill creatures?" the Arbiter demanded.

"K-2L...and we are of humans..." Samus whispered.

"Oh, by the Gods!" Arbiter yelled.

"That bloody Spartan and his little race betrayed us!" the Arbiter yelled. The Arbiter threw Samus down to the launch area she parked her ship at.

"Get off our ship, traitor!" the Arbiter kicked Samus off onto the top of her ship.

"Floor it!" the Arbiter yelled. An Elite nodded singly and ran back to the control deck of their ship. The Elite sat down and hit the gas. The Arbiter looked down at Samus and said, "Good Riddance," before he mashed the button and closed the launch door which was originally hacked by Samus.

Samus looked up at the Elite's mothership, escaping her pathetic attempts to defeat the Space Pirate nation. She got back into her ship and took off in another direction.

The shipmaster got up and stared at the Arbiter.

"What?" the Arbiter wondered.

"I...have a theory..." the shipmaster said tiredly, clinging to his arm.

"Hm?" the Arbiter hmphed.

"That human explained it was a K-2L...and the others said they were of the UNSC..." the shipmaster said.

"So?"

"Maybe the _homo sapiens _are different from the _homo iradica_," the shipmaster explained, knowing a specie's scientific name well.

"Perhaps the UNSC are different from the K-2L," he added. The Arbiter sighed.

"Are you saying that this human most likely just misconcieved us with a dreaded rival? And, that the other humans we truced with five years ago...are well-trusted allies?" the Arbiter asked. The shipmaster nodded.

"Actually, the UNSC are an organization of _homo sapien_. Just call them human," an Elite said, calculating something.

"Oh, well. Not like it matters. We most likely will never come into contact with the sapiens again," the Arbiter said.

"We shall continue searching..." the Arbiter said. The Elites groaned.

"Eh, we will get used to it," the Arbiter said.

"At least we have no need to claw across a planet's surface," he added. No answer.

"Tch! Were it so easy..."

* * *

**Earth-Year 2557, Town of Webat, Colorado**

The town of Webat lived on for a few more hours before the corrupted marine came back. He walked slowly, cautiously, seemingly. Did I mention that he wasn't corrupted anymore? Oh, no! He was completely overtaken by the chemical now. No human gene was left-now they were different.

"Oh, my God," the man that had a shotgun earlier said.

"That guy looks even worse now," he said. The marine didn't say a word, just simply uttered an alien noise.

"Get the heck off Earth..." the man said. He shot the marine in the head, and no blood trickled. The marine just flinched, and continued walking.

"Look, I know how you feel. I feel like this on Saturday mornings, and you don't see me attempting to look creepy and shoot people with a sniper."

No answer. The marine groaned in an unnatural sort of way, and a blue, liquid tentacle reached out and wrapped around the man. Inside the man his insides crumpled, and he fell to the ground.

"No! Daddy!" a little girl cried, almost running to save her dad, but her mother gripped her tightly. The marine looked around. He started to speak in a croopy kind of voice.

"YoU pEopLe dO noT unDeRsTanD tHat EaRtH iSn'T hErE aNyMOre. ThIS iS nOT EarTH. THIs IS WhErE PhANToOn lIvEs," the marine said, coughing wildly. Barely anyone knew what he just said. Others were thinking 'Who is Phantoon?' The marine walked over to a stone statue shaped like a creature that the humans thought was shaped strange, and he dripped the chemical all over the statue.

"CoME hITHeR, gREAt oNE!" the marine yelled. The statue started to glow, and then a flash set off, and a levitating creature with a large, round head, a mouth with its one eye in it, and a small, spiky body with two short tentacles appeared.

"What is that thing?" people were wondering. The creature shot a beam at the town, and five buildings collapsed. It then swallowed a few unlucky people with its large mouth. Only seven people managed to escape this monster's wrath. At the end of this horrible tragedy, the creature turned to the marine and spoke through telepathy.

"You did a splendid task, phazonide minion," the creature spoke.

"I know, Master Phantoon," the marine replied. So, now you know what's wrong with the marine. It's cranium has been corrupted by the deadly chemical phazon, recommended only to be handled by dedicated organisms, i.e. Phantoon. Phazon will either screw your life up with corrupting your brain, making you strangely obedient to some creatures, or, if unlucky, phazon will _kill_ you. So I'd beware. Only a few creatures can handle the reactions of this chemical, and let me tell you, humans aren't one of them.

The seven survivors of the wrath of Phantoon stayed off, only about one-hundred feet away from what was left of Webat. They heard an unnatural roar-Phantoon-and a giant black and purple ship arrived at the edge of the mountain. The doors dropped open, and a few odd-looking creatures walked out. They snarled loudly, made rustling noises, and they ran back in. Phantoon and the phazonide marine ran in behind the creatures. The ship closed its doors, and then it took off, towards the tallest mountain in the Rockies.

"What could they want there?" a woman wondered.

"It's just a large mountain," she added. A man looked up and noticed something strange.

"Do you guys remember when that guy said that we weren't standing on Earth? And this is where that creature lives?" he asked. Almost everyone of the seven survivors nodded.

"I believe him," the man finished.

"Whaaat?" a woman looked surprised.

"How so?" another man asked.

"Before the war against the Covenant, I lived here in Webat for twenty years. I know exactly how the mountains are arranged and-" he paused gulping.

"This is not that specific arrangement," he finished.

"You expect us to believe that maybe, just maybe, we ain't on Earth anymore, simply because the mountains are different? Mountains get bigger, you ding-dong!" the other man said. The man didn't say anything.

"I hope you're right," he finally said.

* * *

**Runai Trutlau-Year 2557, Somewhere in Space **

The Arbiter and his Elites drifted and entered a different solar system. This system was familiar, and he wondered if perhaps his homeworld was near. He looked over and saw one planet he wished to visit every now and then-Earth.

"The humans. They are over there," the Arbiter said. He pointed out the window at Earth.

"Earth?! Earth?! By the Gods! That is Earth!" the shipmaster called.

"Should we visit the humans? I mean, it's been five years," the shipmaster asked.

"I suppose," the Arbiter said.

"But I am particularly enraged because we were so close to Earth this whole time. We did not make much progress," the Arbiter added.

"Quite so," the shipmaster said.

"Elites! Get ready! We are about to visit our old allies!" the Arbiter yelled.

"And perhaps kill that Hood character," the Arbiter murmured. An Elite walked over and clicked a key that asked the question: Where would you like to direct the ship towards? through a speaker. The Elite started punching in many complicated codes that led to turning the whole ship towards Earth. The Elites were finally going somewhere that they were familiar with.

_BOOM!_ There was a large boom that inflicted the ship on its side.

"By the Prophets!" the shipmaster hollered. An Elite stared out the side window.

"Arbiter..." it said.

"I really do not believe you wish to see what just attacked us," it said.

"What? It's not like any Brutes or Grunts have came from the grave of an over-exploded ring!" the Arbiter yelled.

"No. Worse than the two combined," the Elite finished. The Arbiter gasped slightly.

"That's not possible! The Flood have been killed!" he cried.

"Gravemind was annihilated upon the destruction of the second ring!" he added.

"Perhaps Gravemind has survived," the Elite said. The Arbiter got up and ran over to the window. Large, creepy creatures that looked like zombie-and-alien hybrids were clinging onto the ship.

"The Flood," he said.

"Hit the rockets! Ready the Fuel Rods! Do something!" the Arbiter yelled. The Flood were ready to bust the window open and kill the Elites. This would lead to more Flood, and more...and more...

This wasn't good. The Flood! How can you kill the Flood without a sacred ring to implode? It was almost utterly impossible. The Elites ran into the storage areas. Some picked up Needlers, some picked up Plasma Pistols, some picked up Plasma Rifles. The Arbiter and shipmaster both picked up their ship's only two Fuel Rod cannons. They were ready to protect themselves against the parasite that would sweep off their whole race. It was time. The Flood would finally die. The Elites watched the door as it shook slightly, and the door busted down. Many Flood ran into the chamber, and the Elites started firing except the Arbiter and the shipmaster. The Flood just wouldn't die for some odd reason! I mean, they _were_ Flood, why weren't they exploding in a pool of guts? They smelled like Flood, they felt like Flood, they almost look like Flood. Wait. They _almost_ look like Flood? Actually, this was truth. The Flood looked oddly different than normal, the Arbiter thought. What could be going on?

Two Elites died already, and were overtaken by the parasite. Now, they were one of _them._

"We cannot hold off these...Flood much longer!" the Arbiter said. The shipmaster was stumped that the Flood wouldn't die as easily as before.

"I'm beginning to wonder..."

A big thump was heard, then about a hundred other thumps. Blackish-grey creatures that had their organs showing slightly, with silver, crablike claws, appeared. They looked somewhat similar to the Elites, but not exactly. A voice from around the corner could be heard.

"Extend your weapons!" it said. The creatures extended their claws and shot a yellow beam at the Flood. After a few shots, the Flood fell over and exploded.

"Slit their cores!" the voice yelled. It was a deep voice that occasionally made little screeches in its tone. The creatures ran over and pushed a Flood to the ground, ripping open their chests, and tearing the "cores."

"Throw your Pirate Pods!" the voice yelled, and this time, you could see a creature about 17'6" walking around the corner into the chamber. It had large claws that weren't crablike, more like a dragon's. The creature had the figure shape of a dragon as well, but it stood on two legs, occasionally hunching over. It had a long, somewhat thin neck, and two large batlike wings. The lobes of the wings were reddish. It had yellow eyes. Its tail was spiked, and its legs were like a dragon's as well as its arms. The Arbiter was shocked, so shocked he readied his Fuel Rod cannon. The other creatures threw a little pod that exploded and killed some Flood.

"Good. Now, I will handle the rest," the creature said. It extended its wings and flapped, and a ferocious wind nearly knocked the Arbiter off of his feet. The Flood didn't manage to stay up, though. The winged creature crushed a Flood with its claws, spun around, and its tail slit the Flood in half. It then spat a reddish goo that emitted a smell that was horrifyingly disgusting. The Flood that was a victim of the goo was gone with no trace of DNA left. Now, the Flood army was gone, and the creature walked up to the Arbiter. It held out a claw.

"Greetings, fellow alien. I am Ridley," the creature said. The Arbiter lowered his Fuel Rod, and, shakily, reached out to shake its claw.

"I am Frota Enera Kuta, but you can merely call me the Arbiter," the Arbiter said.There was a pause.

"How did you fend off the Flood parasite?" the Arbiter asked.

"Flood? What are the Flood? We just saved your behinds from a parasite known as the Taridians," Ridley said. The Arbiter felt weird. Who knew it was really the Taridians, and not the Flood?

"Space Pirates, formation X-3!" Ridley yelled. The crablike creatures, apparently called Space Pirates, huddled together to form a shape.

"Space Pirates? We just recently had a human in an orange suit attempt to slaughter us, calling us that name!" the Arbiter said. Ridley paused for a split second and gained angry.

"Have you had any intention to kill her?" Ridley asked, starting to sound angry.

"No, but we _did_ scare her off," the Arbiter replied. Ridley shook his head.

"Let me check your weaponry," Ridley told the Arbiter. The Arbiter handed over his Fuel Rod cannon. Ridley popped open the circuitry.

"Don't do that! You'll force it to explode!" the Arbiter said, but was well ignored.

"I know what I am doing," Ridley retorted. The Arbiter sat still. Ridley started to fidget with the wiring and circuitry of the Elite's choice of weapon. He lifted out wires, squinted at them, shifted a few microchips around. Strangely, whenever an Elite did that, the cannon exploded. Ridley snapped everything back into place.

"Your weaponry is about...oh, two-hundred years old," Ridley said. The Arbiter was stumped.

"What?" he said.

"We Space Pirates used this weaponry about two-hundred years ago. Our weaponry is far more advanced than this," Ridley said. He looked over at a Cybernetic Space Pirate.

"Weavel, toss me a Battlehammer," Ridley said. The Space Pirate threw his gun to Ridley, and Ridley gripped it.

"Watch and learn," he said. He pointed the gun at an open area where pretty much no one visits. He pulled the trigger, and little green pellets fired in an arch formation in the area. When it hit the floor, the green pellets popped, leaving behind some radiation.

"We stole one nuclear missle from the humans and distributed them to our Battlehammers, currently used by our Cybernetic Space Pirates. Its range is small, because of the arch formation, but is deadly if you are not armored properly," Ridley explained. The Arbiter's pupils widened.

"But wait! There is more. We Space Pirates have harnessed a chemical known as phazon. Phazon is a new element that is reactive to all sentient organisms. The reaction varies depending on the species. Most species who inhale phazon either perish or mutate in a nasty way, and will never be normal again. Humans and Space Pirates are included in this majority. I, however, have a strange supernatural immunity that doesn't allow it to hurt me, and I can use it against my foes," Ridley explained. He spat on the ground, and more red goo dripped out.

"That is disgusting," the shipmaster said.

"The Taridians are a species that have a metabolism that does not allow _any_ phazon to be touched or digested," Ridley said assuringly. He squinted and stared at the Arbiter.

"That is impressive," the Arbiter said. Ridley continued staring at him.

"What is it you want?" the Arbiter asked, freaked out at the pure yellow eyes just looking at him. The eyes turned red, and the Arbiter backed away. The eyes turned to yellow again, and he stared at a basic Space Pirate.

"I know why Samus Aran has attempted to kill you," Ridley said.

"Why?" the Arbiter asked. He was surprised Ridley knew her name as well.

"Your cellular structure," Ridley said. The Arbiter looked stumped.

"By your current look, you have not a clue what I have said," Ridley said as he leaned towards the Arbiter slightly.

"Samus Aran's helmet has the ability to allow the wearer to examine things, such as information on programs or organisms, cellular structure and DNA, etc.," Ridley said.

"By closely examining your cellular structure and comparing it with that of a Space Pirate's, I have noticed something disturbing. Your species' DNA is very similar to the Space Pirate's. She is targeting to kill Space Pirates, and she can examine the cellular structure of your species. Because yours is so close to my Pirates', she assumed you were one of us. So, she tried to kill you before you plotted something devious, such as, harness ultimate powers through deadly organisms or substances," Ridley explained.

"Which we did," he added. The Arbiter was confused for that long speech. He thought at first Ridley was a mindless monster, but after his speeches, the Arbiter thought quite the contrary.

There was a long pause.

"What about Phantoon?" the Arbiter asked. Ridley looked surprised.

"How did you know about Phantoon?" he asked.

"Samus asked me if I knew where Phantoon was. I hadn't a clue what she meant," the Arbiter said. Ridley stared at the Arbiter strangely.

"Phantoon is one of my Squadron Control Space Pirates. He levitates over the ground with tentacles, and his one eye is in his mouth," Ridley said.

"I wonder why Samus Aran wants Phantoon. I am the Space Pirate leader," Ridley said. The Arbiter stared off into space, thinking.

"I haven't a clue," he said.


	2. Reasoning and Origin

**Samus Aran's Ship-Year 2557,** **Somewhere in Space**

Samus sat in her ship, wondering what to do or where to go. She was forced off of a Pirate falgship-or so she thought-by mere Space Pirate infantry units-or at least that is what she thought. They weren't Space Pirates by exact species or any kind of antagonistic force that she knew of. And all she wanted to do was slay Phantoon. Why? Phantoon has comitted a crime long ago that cannot be forgiven now. It has much to do with phazon. The thought of Phantoon comitting a crime that seems more Ridley-ish made her sick and think about Ridley. She didn't want to think about _him_ right now, though. Phantoon was the current criminal, number one on the list of the GFS's Most Wanted list.

She pressed four buttons in her ship, and it showed a map of the current galaxy she was in. Her target was most likely the Pirate Homeworld, but perhaps she could try the center of the galaxy, the Solari Truna, as named by the Chozos. She pressed the Solari and her ship blasted towards the center of the galaxy, simply searching for Phantoon.

Soon, Samus came across another frigate. It was abandoned, as far as she knew, and had phazon spread across its surface-perhaps the inside, too.

"Space Pirates," she whispered to herself. She mashed some buttons and turned towards the frigate, hoping that she was right. If not, then a helpless race was just extinguished due to a near-unharnessable substance. It was time to figure out which.

* * *

**Runai Trutlau-Year 2557, Somewhere in Space**

The Arbiter's ship was attached to Ridley's flagship, so they allowed Ridley to fly them to the destination-which was Earth.

"Pardon, Ridley, but how exactly does Earth have to help us? We were only here to say greetings to the humans," the Arbiter said. Ridley turned from his seat that was stationery in the control deck of the Space Pirate flagship.

"No particular reason." The ship drifted closer to Earth silently with some quiet little rockets sliding their way to Earth. It would probably be another half-hour until they entered the atmosphere, though.

"So tell me, Arbiter. Why have you come to greet the humans?" Ridley wondered, fidgeting with the controls.

"It's...complicated..." the Arbiter replied. He bowed his head and closed his eyes.

"Arbiter, I am Ridley, one of the most intelligent life forms, perhaps. I'm all for complicated," Ridley said.

"Well, to start, we Elites were _against_ the humans. We were in an organization known as the Covenant. We were sided with other creatures of other races: the Grunts, the Hunters, the Jackals, and the Brutes. I'll tell you a profile on those later. But what happened was this: There is a sacred ring the humans call a "Halo." The Halo was built by an ancient race known as the Forerunners, and the Forerunners have made nine rings total. The rings are large, and contain the attributes of a planet on the inner side, and mechanical machinery on the outer section. The Halo was built to be used as a weapon of mass destruction to terminate a parasite that can wipe a whole species out in one sweep known as the Flood. We Covenant had strict Hierarchs, called Prophets. Three of them: Truth, Mercy, and Regret. The Hierachs wished to drive the rest of the Covenant to follow a Great Journey. This was a "Journey" that was to be fulfilled to follow the Covenant's religion. As it turned out, the Prophets were merely trying to fire the rings in a suicidal attempt to annihilate the whole Covenant. Though they had failed, the Elites were driven out of the Covenant. The other Elites were the only ones to believe me, so the Jackals, Hunters, Brutes, and Grunts all stayed behind and tried to kill us, calling us the traitor. We should have believed the Heretics, who may just have not been Heretics after all. We were forced to side with the humans to slay Tartarus, the Brute leader. We succeeded and stayed allied with the humans to stop our enemy-the Prophets. I was joined with the Spartan 117, or Master Chief, as the humans called him. Unfortunately..." the Arbiter paused.

(keep in mind I made him stop talking so I won't spoil the ending to Halo 3 for you all)

Ridley raised his head.

"Well. Good answer. It is a benefit for you that your reason is good for joining forces with the humans, otherwise I would've killed you within the next micro-cycle," he said. The Arbiter gulped. This guy was strict.

"Why do you despise the human race so intensely?" the Arbiter asked. Now it's Ridley's turn to tell his story.

"It was year 2314. A group of humans formed together to form an intergalactic defense team known as the GFS. Me and my Space Pirates are criminals, don't you know. We didn't like to steal, however. We use a totally different method of comitting crime similar to stealing, though. We search the universe for things that will make our army bigger, better, stronger, and have the best defenses. Our first stop was a lonely but dangerous planet called SR388. There, we have not only found the chemical Glomintosin in which I used for a project, but we had found a deadly species as well-Metroids. We harnessed the Metroids, and they also served as a sacrifice to give life to my project. The Metroids did turn against us, though, and spread out. The GFS learned of this, and they sent someone new, yet capable to stop our plans-Samus Aran. But I shan't jump ahead. I killed Samus's parents long ago, in year 2529. I then destroyed Earth once and for all. Just before Earth exploded, however, Samus's mother handed her baby to the Chozos, knowing that the world would implode soon. The Chozos got away, and raised Samus. They taught her discipline, how to kill, what enemies would pose a major threat-they even included me on that list. Though they called me the Black One. Samus grew up and joined the GFS as a Major Bounty Hunter. Nearly right after that, I sent Phantoon to destroy a major defense the GFS had contained. Phantoon succeeded and retreated back here, and they sent Samus to try and stop us. She entered Zebes, which also is the planet the Chozos raised her on, and had slain the many natives. She entered the depths of Brinstar and nearly killed Kraid, so I called him in for him to retreat. She then zipped down Norfair and injured me with those heavy-duty Super Missles of hers. She then entered Tourian and had slain Mother Brain, both my creation _and_ the reason of the Taridian parasites' existence. We attracted her to her ship after so, and she took her suit off, only her uniform on. My Space Pirates shot her out of the sky in the nick of time, and she fell to Chozodia, another section of Zebes. Her suit got damaged, so she was forced to enter the Pirate Mothership and infiltrate our base we dug up in the Chozo Ruins. She was sneaky to get past us, but we had found her and almost killed her many times. She made it to our base in the Ruins and somehow found her suit and upgraded it. Then she had to go in and kill my previous project I built as a guard-Robotic Ridley. She destroyed the sentry bot and escaped Zebes just before it exploded, but little did she know that we had escaped as well. After that major conflict, we had some other major conflicts, but this one started it all. What makes me despise her so is that she is one person-yet we always seemed to have lost. That can get annoying," Ridley finished. The Arbiter did listen to the whole explanation, but what caught his attention most was Earth. It was gone? But how is it right there?

"How is Earth imploded, yet it is right there?" the Arbiter asked.

"Glad you asked..." Ridley said.

* * *

**Earth-Year 2557, Rocky Mountains, Colorado **

The seven survivors ran into their homes and grabbed guns. They were ready to go out and slay the odd-looking creatures that brought in Phantoon from beyond. They ran out, and they were stopped by a man.

"Get the heck outta the way!" a different man yelled.

"No. You aren't properly armed," the man said. He was obviously a marine five years ago.

"Yeah, right. Assault rifles and battle rifles...what could be better for a basic weapon?" the man asked.

"This is a serious situation. Basic weapons should only be used as a last resort," the marine said. He walked over and kicked a wooden box open nearby the bar. He picked up a weapon that would kill any creature in one shot as far as they knew-a rocket launcher. He picked it up with all of his strength, and loaded it.

"Oh, my God," the man said. The marine started up the foothills nearby to get to the larger mountain.

"Come on," he yelled from far away. The other six survivors ran over with him.

* * *

**Runai Trutlau-Year 2557, Somewhere in Space**

Ridley inhaled.

"You see, it is actually very complicated. I, as you know, have a deep desire to kill Samus Aran. I have been watching the rest of the human race fighting you, and watched them, and watched them...So I have spied on them, and I knew they would be looking for Earth after _their _war was over. They would come back to Earth, settle in, and I'd give them five years of liesure and no war, no conflict, just peace. They really didn't know that they were near the Pirate Homeworld during the final destruction of the second Halo, so, while nobody was looking, I developed an illusionary panel that is really small, and orbits my Pirate Homeworld. _It _made my Pirate Homeworld look like _their _Earth. The real Earth is destroyed, but they don't know that. Not this group of humans. They are really standing on my Space Pirate Homeworld. I gave them five years to rest and relax, not worry about war, but during that time, I watched them. I did so that way I could identify their strengths and weaknesses so I could annihilate the GFS, and destroy these group of humans as well. I may drop the last part because of your relationship with them. Then again, maybe not," Ridley explained. The Arbiter narrowed his eyes and thought hard.

"Now that I think about it, humans mean nothing to us now. I remember that Lord Hood saying he can't forgive us for what we did to his race before. Due to so, we may not be welcomed, and we perhaps will be killed upon surfacing and merely greeting them," he said as he huffed in anger.

"Well, we may as well still go to the Pirate Homeworld, or the illusionised Earth, so we can check up on Phantoon," Ridley noted. The Arbiter nodded assuringly.

* * *

**Unknown Frigate-Year 2557, Somewhere in Space**

Samus put on her suit and laddered out of her ship. (Although the entrance/exit is a liitle shaft that sucks her in and spits her out) It was the abandoned frigate. She was going to try and avoid the phazon spread around the frigate, but this ship was nearly engulfed by it. She jumped past a large puddle of blue phazon, and knocked the door down to the airlock. She walked in and saw nothing more unusual than tiny bugs feeding on the sparking wires that plopped out of the walls, floor and ceiling. No phazon in this room. She ran down to the door and shot it. No reaction. She slammed the door with her gun. No reaction. She looked around, hoping she hadn't have to leave. There was something fishy about this frigate that was abandoned. Her scanners insisted so. She looked at the corner and saw a large, bitten through hole. She could probably morph to Morph Ball and roll under it. She did just that. Wires dangled from inside the ripped up tunnel. She reached the end of the tunnel at a small hole that spat her out into a large chamber with large, harmless parasites climbing around the walls. Samus transformed back and looked below her and was shocked.

"Water?" she wondered. A large pool of water was in front of her. It was mysterious, and probably dangerous-because, well, you know that Metroid can get creepy. She jumped across a gap and landed on another platform, only to learn that no door was at the end of the chamber. If any possible way to proceed, it would be one way and one way only-underwater. Boy, Samus is lucky that her Varia Suit allows her to go underwater without suffocating. She jumped in and sank slowly, towards the bottom. When she reached the bottom, she noticed that there was a door there-thank God-and, to make things worse, (not like they were bad to begin with) there were Grenchlers at the bottom, hybernating. This wasn't good. (Those who beat played Metroid Prime 2 should know what Grenchlers are) She walked slowly and quietly, over to the door. She shot it, and it opened slowly. She walked past the doorway, only to find _more_ Grenchlers. These were asleep as well, but on top of that, there was a giant, spiky, green thing latched to the wall. Samus hadn't a care that the creature was there. She knew it wasn't Phantoon. She swam quietly up to the surface, and pulled herself up to the platform. When she got up, she saw something disturbing.

"Oh, my God," she said.


	3. The Frigate

**Unknown Frigate-Year 2557, Somewhere in Space**

It was something disturbing on end. Samus wouldn't have expected to see this _here._ She walked slowly over to it, hoping that it wasn't an undercover Space Pirate. She looked at it closely and scanned it.

SCANNING ITEM...

Her scan visor was going to pick up vital info on this object.

SCANNING COMPLETE. THIS IS A CAPSULE THAT BELONGS TO THE HUMAN ORGANIZATION UNSC. IT WAS USED TO PREPARE AND REJUVENATE SPARTANS, WHICH ARE A FORM OF TROOP FROM THE UNSC, FOR COMBAT AGAINST OPPOSING FORCES AND WAR.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SCAN FURTHER?

The scanner asked Samus. She said yes.

THERE IS A LIVING ORGANISM INSIDE THIS CAPSULE. IT IS A HUMANOID. UPON FURTHER INVESTIGATION, RESULTS INDICATE THAT THIS PARTICULAR HUMAN IS A SPARTAN FOR THE UNSC. MORE SPECIFICALLY, THE LIVING ORGANISM INSIDE THE CAPSULE IS TITLED SPARTAN 117.

"Oh my God," Samus said. "I've found another well-trained human," she said. She got up closer and hacked the capsule's lock with her scanner. The capsule emitted a steam, and the door slid open. It revealed a suit. It wasn't as advanced as what Samus wore, but it was close. It was shining and light green, with a helmet that had an orange window.

"Hello?" Samus asked.

"Hello," a female voice said.

"Are you Spartan 117?" she asked, pretty much knowing the answer.

"No. I am Cortana," the voice said.

"I am John's AI unit, though," it finished.

"I am Samus Aran of the GFS," Samus said. The suit trembled slightly, and the green suit got up. He took out a shotgun.

"Who are you?" it asked.

"It's okay, Chief. I don't think she is going to hurt us," Cortana said. He lowered his weapon and held out his hand.

"John. You?" John asked. Samus shook his hand.

"Samus Aran," Samus replied.

* * *

**Space Pirate Homeworld ("Earth")-Year 2557, Mainland**

Ridley and the Arbiter were flying at "Earth," and they entered the atmosphere in a strange way. The flames caused by friction that are normally red are now blue. Another effect of it not being Earth.

"That little panel you have developed is very authentic," the Arbiter said.

"Yes, I know," Ridley replied. They flew over lush trees, orange mountains, one sea, until they finally reached something out of place. The beautiful and warless landscape below had suddenly turned to a steaming, purple and black battlescarred wasteland. This was _not _Earth for sure, and now the Arbiter believed Ridley. The ship descended and landed harshly on the rugged ground. Ridley leaped out athletically, and the Arbiter walked out with his Elites following behind, all five of them, not including the shipmaster. Following the Elites were the fifty Space Pirates Ridley had brought along. Once the Pirates passed, The Arbiter looked around and thought hard. The shipmaster poked his shoulder.

"Do you think we can trust these creatures?" he asked. The Arbiter looked at the shipmaster.

"I don't think any other option is available," the Arbiter replied. The seven Elites followed Ridley and his army of Space Pirates. They were about to find out if these creatures _can _be trusted. That Ridley character was weird.

* * *

**Unknown Frigate-Year 2557, Somewhere in Space**

_Boom!_

"What was that?" Master Chief asked.

"I don't know," Samus said.

"It is a creature close by," Cortana said.

"How close?" Master Chief wondered. Cortana paused.

"Right below us," she finally said. Samus looked down into the water, beyond the grates, and saw the green figure that was previously latched to the wall move and shake the whole frigate. Master Chief looked down and saw it, too. The creature unlatched, and swam around, only showing its back. Master Chief raised his shotgun and fired, but Samus pushed his arm away to prevent a second shot. The creature finally emerged out of the water, revealing its distorted, spiky head. It looked a whole lot like Kraid, but designed for undersea travel.

"Well, well, well," Samus said.

"What?" Master Chief asked.

"I haven't fought you in such a long time, Draygon," Samus finished. The creature roared in anger, but couldn't speak. It shot spikes and beams at Samus and Chief, but missed every shot because Samus ducked herself and Chief downward harshly.

"This thing is deadly. Be aware," Samus said. Chief nodded singly. Samus readied her grapple beam and leaped across the gap well.

"I need you to shoot his stomach when I say now, okay?" she said over to Chief. He nodded.

'He doesn't talk much,' Samus thought. She loaded her gun with missles and started firing at the creature's stomach. The creature was getting more and more enraged, and it shot little beams at Samus. Samus continued to shoot missles at its stomach until finally, she was out of missles.

"Now!" she yelled. Chief raised his shotgun and shot Draygon right in the stomach. It fell into the water, and sank.

(Note from U.R.-People who have beaten Super Metroid should know who Draygon is)

"That was a little two easy. When I fought it on Zebes, I nearly died because of it..." Samus paused. She and Chief stared down into the wavering water, and saw the Grenchlers awaken.

"Back away," Samus said. Chief did as she said. A Grenchler popped out and roared as it fell onto the platform. Samus readied her missles and fired at its head. _Bounce!_ The missle simply bounced off of the face of the ugly creature.

"Aw, no! I forgot how to kill one of these!" Samus said. Master Chief looked at it carefully.

"I got it," Master Chief said. He threw a fragmentation grenade and it landed underneath the Grenchler. Dumbstruck, the Grenchler roared, and it grenade detonated. The Grenchler, unaffected but frightened, dipped down, revealing its back. Chief looked over at Samus and Samus looked at Chief. Chief nodded once. Samus nodded back and loaded a few more missles (which she obtained from killing Draygon) and fired one clean Super Missle at its back. The Grenchler roared in agony, and fell to the floor.

"That was easy. Just add teamwork," Cortana said.

"How exactly does that AI unit of yours work? Mine isn't quite as intelligent in the area of everyday conversation like yours," Samus said. Chief paused.

"She is programmed to be the brain of one of my old friends..." Chief said.

"Who died, in the war that began thirty-five years ago. I am the last Spartan," Chief said.

"War? You mean_ you_ were in a war?" Samus wondered.

"Yes. It was agonizing and sacrificial, and now, there may only be a little more than three-hundred humans left on Earth..."

"Earth?"

"Yes, Earth. Weren't you born on it?" Chief asked.

"Of course! But it had only been a month until the Space Pirates imploded Earth, so, in the rise of that moment, my mother handed me over to the Chozos, who had a terrible conflict between other races as well. Right now _I_ am in a war, but its just quiet until a Space Pirate Squadron Leader commits a crime that cannot ever be forgiven. They always send me because I'm very capable of nearly all combat," Samus explained.

"Me too," Chief said. There was a long pause, and they looked down at Draygon, who was lying in the water, dead. Hopefully dead.

"How do we get out of here?" Chief asked.

"Down there-"

"I can't really swim underwater well," Chief said quietly.

"But, you have that helmet-"

"I know, but if we have to get out of here, I think we'll have to blast our way out. I can't go upward in water well."

"Okay, then," Samus replied.

* * *

**Space Pirate Homeworld-Year 2557, Mainland**

The Arbiter walked in past many chambers of the Space Pirate palace. The seven Elites looked around them, in other rooms two Space Pirates were fighting each other for either previous conflicts or they just don't like each other.

"Arbiter. This is...disgustingly reminiscent. I am remembering that the Brutes had beaten the Elites down for the glory of achieving the Honor Guard rank. And Truth never stopped them. Ridley is acting like so," the shipmaster said. The Arbiter stopped, and the other six stood still as well.

"If it turns out we cannot trust this race, we will abandon them and inform the humans of everything they've told us. Then, war will erupt again, and we will just have to hope," the Arbiter said doubtfully.

"Oh, you can trust us," Ridley said from about seventy feet away.

"And a revolt caused by your Elites will not be dealt with calmly. Take that as a warning," he added. The Arbiter sighed.

"If we cannot follow them any longer due to rebellious purposes, we should just play along. That's what we did with the Prophets," the shipmaster whispered. They were lucky Ridley couldn't hear that.

"Come. Let us continue to walk," the Arbiter said.

"Right now we will just have to half-trust them, if you understand what I mean," the Arbiter whispered. The seven Elites continued, some still staring at the two Pirates fighting each other. One of the two were dead, its head disembodied. The Elites walked on, disgusted. After a few more rooms, they entered what looked like a colosseum. Space Pirates lined the outer area, and the Elites were standing in a wide, open area. Ridley was hunching in front of them, back turned at the Elites.

"Do you accept a challenge when it is offered?" Ridley asked.

"Yes, we do, unless the challenge is too impossible for us-or anyone else," the shipmaster said. The Arbiter nudged the shipmaster, not meaning to be funny. Ridley raised his head and extended his wings. The Arbiter and the Elites jumped back, and Ridley turned around and started to flap. A tough wind blew against the Elites. Ridley rocketed into the air, and flew over to a giant throne on the bleachers of the colosseum.

"What is your challenge?" the Arbiter asked, determined.

"If you can defeat one of my Majors," Ridley said. "Then you will not be executed for any purpose other than rebelling against us," Ridley finished.

"Whaat?" the Arbiter yelled.

"What you are doing is rebellious! What is your reason to pit us against this beast?" the shipmaster called.

"Space Pirate nature. If we don't know your nature, then we must determine it, by the way you fight. If you die, that is your punishment, but if you live and defeat him, we will judge what you will probably do by the style you used. Very similar to what I am putting humans through, but that is not near as violent," Ridley said, and smiled, showing shining white razor sharp teeth, and his drool was red and blue.

"Elites! Huddle!" the Arbiter yelled. The Elites got close together and the Arbiter started to explain a plan.

"We do not have a choice, my brothers. We must fight, no matter how tough it may be. And, we must fight using the ultimate force an Elite can show, at the risk of our own life. Agreed?"

"Agreed!" all the Elites said. The Elites spread out and roared in a determined fashion. The Arbiter looked up at the purple sky. There was a storm coming.

* * *

**Unknown Frigate-Year 2557, Somewhere in Space**

Samus jumped down and sunk to the bottom of the pool of water. Chief followed suit. No electronic vocal signals could be given off underwater, so they had to speak through gestures. Cortana, however, could speak. Samus beckoned Master Chief to walk over to the door. Samus shot it, and they both left into the next room.

"High carbon levels are detected in the last room. Something in there is still alive," Cortana spoke out. Chief stayed calm, as usual, and just continued to walk. Samus, however, freaked out slightly. What if that creature was Draygon? The frigate shook roughly all of a sudden. Samus and Master Chief turned around, the frigate still shaking. After five seconds, the wall busted down, and the gargantuan creature known as Draygon came with it. There was a loud, deafening roar. Draygon twitched its little crablike legs, swung its scorpion like tail slightly, and started to chase after Chief and Samus. Samus turned around and dashed, though slowly, and Chief did as well, just more calmly. Their suits were both meant for underwater use if needed, and were designed to allow them to run under there faster than normal, but still slow for underwater. Draygon was catching up. No exit ahead, though. Samus pointed upward, and Master Chief started to ascend the waters very slowly. Samus started, too, and Master Chief was beaten in the race to reach the platform. Once they both got up, Draygon shook water as it popped its giant head up. Samus looked around, hoping she'd find an emergency exit. She looked and saw a door with Pirate language written above it. Draygon tried to spike them both, but Master Chief distracted it with his shotgun. Samus scanned the writing, and, in translation, it said "Emergency Exit."

"Over that way!" Samus called. Chief looked away and ran at the door Samus mentioned to be an Emergency exit. Draygon turned away and swam, knowing that killing either would be near impossible. They ran through the door, down a damaged hallway, and they stopped for a breather. Chief checked his load on his shotgun.

"Out of ammo," he said.

"It doesn't matter. You won't need it any more anyway," Samus said, panting. The little room they were in shook and turned diagonally, which sent both Samus and Master Chief off their feet.

"I thought we convinced that hing to stay away," Chief said.

"I don't think that the creature is going to give up that easily," Cortana implied.

"Isn't it only a marine creature?" Chief asked Samus. Samus closed her eyes (of course, it was hard to see) and shook her head.

"No. Draygon can also levitate into the air slightly. We have to get out of here _now_," Samus replied. The frigate boomed again, and a large tear in the wall ripped open, and teeth were shown. As the creature on the other side persisted, the hole in the wall got larger.

"Let's go," Chief said. They ran into the airlock and out onto the exterior hangar.

"There's my ship. Let's get onto it," Samus told Chief. Chief nodded, and they both jumped onto the ship, and the shaft took both of them in. Samus clicked a code, and the ship launched off, into space. They looked back at the frigate. It was suffering from blue phazon explosions, and Draygon popped out of the side. It fell off the edge and floated into space. A large flash set off, and the frigate was gone-just a bunch of debris another space cleaner would have to worry about. Draygon was floating, backside down, not moving a muscle. Chief squeezed up closer to the window.

"Awful tight in here, isn't it?" he said.

"It was made for one person," Samus replied. Chief looked over at the remnants of the frigate.

"How exactly did the frigate explode?" he wondered. Samus continued to look ahead.

"Perhaps the phazon leaked into the core reactor. Maybe Draygon did the deed. Maybe even, the ship was set to explode, and we just got out in time. I'm not sure," Samus said.

"And what exactly _is_ Draygon?" Chief wondered.

"A Space Pirate Major, one of the eight. I was just unlucky to meet him. I think maybe Ridley left him behind, but I don't see a reason he would," Samus explained.

"Ridley?"

"Space Pirate leader, and a subject on the universe's Most Wanted list. He is one of the biggest and baddest criminals in the universe," Samus explained. There was a pause.

"I'm going to go think about this," Master Chief said. Samus continued to control the ship as Chief went to the back.

"Cortana, I wish it wasn't so, but I may go to war again," Master Chief said assuringly.


	4. The Escape

**Space Pirate Homeworld-Year 2557, Empire Colosseum**

The Elites were ready for anything. The storm had come, and it raged heavily on the purple sky and black ground. It was also acid rain, which had no effect on the Elites.

"Bring him in," Ridley said to a Space Pirate, and the Space Pirate ran over to a switch and pulled it. The Arbiter looked around. The Space Pirates were roaring, and shooting the sky.

"We are really in for it now, brothers," the Arbiter said sadly.

"Ready your guns, for the gargantuan is about to rise!" Ridley screeched out. The Space Pirates stopped cheering for a second.

"Fellow aliens, we are going to pit you against a monster capable to kill you all in one round! If you manage to injure him greatly, we will retreat him, and then judge you based on the style in which you fought. Tell me, are you ready?" Ridley screeched. The Elites raised one of their arms and waved it, roaring.

"Send him in!" A Pirate pressed a button, and technology from below the colosseum opened up. The giant hole sat in front of the Elites.

"We will fight with honor!" the Arbiter yelled. The Elites roared in joy, and the Space Pirates started screeching out again. After a few seconds of hearing an elevator, a spike showed out of the hole. Then, slowly, the whole body of a green, spiky gargantuan beast came out. It was a little on the pudgy side, and it had four fingers in all. It had three bright red eyes, spikes lining down its back, and three spikes poking out of its stomach. The Arbiter was very startled at this creature's size, and the weapons it could use. Spikes.

"Elites! Show no mercy!" the Arbiter yelled. The Elites raised their gun and started firing at the giant. No effect. The Arbiter looked over at the shipmaster, who nodded in agreement of what the Arbiter was about to do. They both raised their Fuel Rod cannons, and fired at the creature's face. No dice. The Arbiter looked back at the Elites, and they looked at him, shrugging slightly.

"Do any of you have grenades?" the Arbiter asked. The Elites checked their armor, and they found a few grenades, most of them plasma. The Arbiter checked as well. He had three plasma grenades and two spike grenades.

"We must climb the monster to find its weakness," the Arbiter said. The Elites nodded unsynchronizingly. The Arbiter ran at the creature and started to climb its leg.

Have any of you figured out who the gargantuan is yet? Metroid wizzes would know. It's Kraid.

Kraid shot a giant spike missle from his stomach. It almost hit an Elite, but the Elite dodged it and ran to climb Kraid as well. The shipmaster and two other Elites followed. Three Elites stayed behind to fire at Kraid. The Arbiter searched Kraid's back, and saw only indestructible spikes. He continued to climb, and he met up with the shipmaster.

"Any luck, Arbiter?" the shipmaster called over the storm's roaring winds.

"I haven't tried one place."

"Where's that?" the shipmaster asked.

"The head," the Arbiter replied. The shipmaster nodded, and they both went for the head. They climbed onto the snout, and Kraid started swatting at the two Elites on his snout.

"I need you to throw a plasma grenade into its mouth when I roar," the Arbiter said. The shipmaster ran down near the lip.

"It is time to prove that we Elites are worthy to the oath!" the Arbiter yelled as he walked up to Kraid's three eyes. The Arbiter removed an Energy Sword from his back holder, and stabbed into the third eye of Kraid. Kraid opened its mouth, wide, and the Arbiter roared. The shipmaster responded to the que by throwing a plasma grenade into Kraid's throat. Kraid swallowed the grenade, and it exploded inside of his throat. Kraid coughed wildly, and shook off any Elites who were climbing him. The Arbiter and shipmaster hit the ground roughly, but managed to get up.

"I think now we know how to slay this beast," the shipmaster said. The Arbiter nodded. Kraid was starting to go crazy in coughing, and, in defense, shot all the spikes he could: from his back, head, stomach, etc. Some spikes were straight and nearly pierced an Elite; others were like machete boomerangs. The Arbiter, wind blowing hard against him, heard a cry of agony from behind him. He turned around.

"By the Gods! Ytrian!" the Arbiter yelled, referring to the shipmaster. The shipmaster was on the ground, with a spike driven through _his_ stomach. He was bleeding purple, and almost unconcious. The Arbiter ran over to the shipmaster and kneeled at him.

"Ytrian! Will you live?" the Arbiter asked. The shipmaster, now starting to bleed out his mouth, barely spoke, and when he did, it was hoarse.

"Arbiter..." the shipmaster coughed.

"Avenge me, Arbiter..." The shipmaster closed his eyes, and his head fell back. The Arbiter, now with all the Elites surrounding the body, lowered his head, then narrowed his eyes. He grew completely enraged, and he spun around and pointed at Ridley.

"You...traitor!" the Arbiter yelled. Ridley raised a claw, and the cheering and screeching of the Space Pirates slowly halted.

"What?" Ridley said calmly.

"You traitor! You set us against an impossible enemy so we would all die!" the Arbiter yelled. There was a strange laughter coming from Ridley.

"What by the Prophets are you laughing about?" the Arbiter yelled. Ridley calmed a bit.

"I'm sorry, it's just...it's so funny how you figured everything out!" Ridley said, stopping his laughter.

"What?"

"I pit you against Kraid, so that all of you would die, and the humans will never be informed of our plan. That way, even if you figured it out somehow, you would be doomed anyway! You can't leave this colosseum without one or more of my Pirates killing you, and the humans would remain vulnerable!" Ridley exclaimed. The Arbiter was enraged completely.

"You are wrong," the Arbiter said. There was a long, disturbing pause.

"Excuse me?" Ridley screeched. The Arbiter did a quick gesture to the Elites, and he took off running. He blasted a door open and started running out of the palace. Ridley sighed and gripped his head with his claw lightly.

"Get them," Ridley said. The Space Pirates all stood up, grabbed Pirate Pods, extended their weapons, and ran out of the colosseum in order to kill the two now called intruders. The Arbiter ran quickly with his five other Elites. Space Pirates screeched as they jumped out to kill the Arbiter and his Elites, but the Arbiter usually slit the Pirates in the stomach with his Energy Sword as he ran. Most Elites either threw plasma grenades or shot with Needlers (which did little).

"Brothers, I never thought this would be so hard," the Arbiter panted, still running.

"It was unexpected," an Elite, Tura, said. "But we must believe."

Over in the colosseum, Ridley sat with a stationery Kraid.

"Kraid, would you mind joining the Space Pirates?" Ridley asked sarcastically. What a charmer. Kraid, embarrassed, started stomping off and crushed a few walls. Not like it mattered to Ridley. He'd just force some other race to rebuild everything, and then kill them. Boy, it must be fun to hang out with Space Pirates. The Arbiter was almost out of the giant, technological palace. The storm raged, but trust me, anyone in their right mind would run through even a volcano of lava just to get away from the Pirates. Almost at the exit, the Arbiter roared, and a giant, two-fingered claw ripped the ceiling open and reaching for the Arbiter. _Kraid._ The Arbiter slit Kraid's wrist with his Energy Sword, and ran around the arm. May seem pointless, but there _has_ to be _some_ way to get that guy to leave you alone. The Arbiter, in truth, knew this was going to happen. Even if the shipmaster hadn't been killed, the Elites at one point would have to escape the Space Pirates' wrath, even at the risk of _their_ life.

_I'll bet the Space Pirates have no allies. They'd kill them at one point,_ the Arbiter thought, and laughed in his head. How sad. The Space Pirates might have _no _allies. This, of course, was believable. Anyone who played the Metroid games had not noticed anyone or anything in cahoots with the Pirates in the end. The Arbiter saw the exit, and he jumped out, as well as Tura. They flipped and landed on the ground roughly, acid rain pelting their skin. That didn't affect them, though. The Arbiter got up and brushed himself off.

"Where are the others?" he asked Tura. Tura shrugged. The Arbiter looked over at their ship, but didn't see it. It's not that it was invisible, or moved. It was _gone._

"An obvious move like that I should have detected," the Arbiter said. "We have no choice. We will meet the others, and then we shall warn Hood of the Space Pirates, and their devious scheme."

* * *

**Samus Aran's Ship-Year 2557, Somewhere in Space**

Samus's ship was floating through space, undetected. No known sentient life was seen.

"Where are we going?" Chief asked calmly. He was lying in the corner of her ship, his back on the wall.

"I'm not sure. I was thinking the Solari of this galaxy, but still..."

"Samus, do you mind if John activates me in your hologram messenger?" Cortana asked.

"Unless you can help, yes," Samus replied. Chief shrugged and yanked Cortana from the back of his helmet. He got up and walked, ducking to prevent his helmet from hitting the top. Chief put Cortana's AI chip into the hologram messenger of Samus's ship. Cortana's blue figure appeared. Samus looked startled.

"How does your AI have a body?" Samus wondered.

"It's a long story," Chief said, and walked back to the back of the ship. Cortana put her fingers to the side of her head, the way she does in the Halo games while trying to figure something out, and started to speak.

"What exactly are you searching for?" she asked. Samus looked over at Cortana.

"A Space Pirate Major named Phantoon," Samus replied.

"DNA code?" Cortana asked. A computerized voice started speaking.

"Phantoon. DNA code 453212375489707546G67m531hsa," the voice said. It was Samus's helmet, her scan visor. Cortana memorized the code, and thought hard again.

"What's she doing?" Samus asked, looking back at Master Chief. He just shrugged.

"I got it!" Cortana said. "Phantoon, Space Pirate Major, uses devastating beams as its weapon. Phantoon was born among the stars, as a Space Pirate experiment. Now, it is almost as intelligent as its leader and creator, Ridley," Cortana chanted, sort of.

"You're telling me what my Logbook told me! I want to know where Phantoon is, and what he is doing," Samus snapped.

"Sorr-ee," Cortana said, in a sarcastic manner. She thought hard again.

"I can't find his exact location, or occupation, but I can direct you towards him in the right direction," Cortana suggested.

"Fine," Samus said sternly. Cortana pointed in one direction. Samus checked the coordinates.

"Well, now I know he isn't at the Solari," she said. Samus directed the ship towards a different solar system.

"Okay, now do you have an idea of where we plan to go?" Chief asked.

"The Pirate Homeworld, Enrekeita," Samus told Chief. Master Chief stared at the coordinates.

"I think that's Earth," he said, not sure.

"Don't be stupid. Earth was destroyed," Samus retorted. Chief was startled.

"Earth is destroyed? How long ago?" he asked, feeling very strange.

"Twenty-one years ago."

"And, what year is it now?" Chief asked.

"2557, why?" Samus looked puzzled.

"I was stuck in space for five years, and my allies went to Earth, when the war against the Covenant was over. _Five years ago,_" he said, slightly frightened. Samus was confused.

"Either you're an insane lunatic, or your friends just _thought_ is was Earth," Samus said.

"If it isn't Earth, what could it be?" Chief asked.

"My radar states it is Enrekeita, the Space Pirate Homeworld," Samus said assuringly. Master Chief gripped his helmet.

"The human race's existence is in jeopardy, if these Space Pirates are as horrid as you say they are," he said.

"I'm not going to reply to that. Either way it'd make things worse eventually for you," Samus said. They started to turbo towards "Earth," Chief hoping to God that she was just pulling his leg. (Which wouldn't be very funny)


	5. Unwanted Existence

**Space Pirate Homeworld-Year 2557, Empire Entrance**

The Arbiter heard a wind different from the storm blow. He turned around and saw something disturbing. Ridley was sitting on the balcony, grinning evilly.

"Fiend! What is it you want?" the Arbiter yelled. Tura walked up slowly next to the Arbiter. Ridley sidled over a little on the balcony, and the Arbiter gasped at what he saw. The other four Elites were tied by a blue plasma rope on a purple machine that moved side to side.

"You will die, Ridley!" the Arbiter screamed deeply at Ridley. Ridley, still grinning, just said something simple and reminding.

"I warned you," he said. The Arbiter's eyes grew pure gold, and he ran straight after Ridley, Energy Sword ready to slit. Ridley rocketed into the air, flapped hard, and dived in for the kill, on the Arbiter. The Arbiter moved out of the way, and Ridley swung his whole body upward. There has to be something that can stump that winged beast, it's too dang intelligent! Perhaps a better timed dodge, but now Ridley is aware of what the Arbiter would do to counter that trick. Ridley sat for a moment, perched back on the balcony.

"Why did you stop? I was only warming up!" the Arbiter yelled, almost happily. A purple and hi-tech door that would take a man years to learn the combination for it busted down. A blue, sapien shaped creature walked out with an assault rifle that was taken over by blue goo eventually. The creature had the blue goo dripping all over it, completely covering its body. After a quick glance at the...thing...the Arbiter looked at Ridley.

"What's the matter? Cannot do the deed yourself?" the Arbiter said, overconfident. Ridley ignored the remark. _What an unintelligent fool, _Ridley thought.

_Perhaps all he goes by is brotherhood and religion, _Ridley thought. The blue creature ran straight for the Arbiter, roaring unnaturally. The Arbiter countered by slicing the creature with his Energy Sword, but the slit went through all the way, and its body regenerated.

"What is this thing?" the Arbiter called.

"Meet Krumarai, the phazonide minion of the Space Pirates!" Ridley screeched back. The Arbiter looked at the phazonide minion.

"By the Prophets," he said. "It is human."

* * *

**Samus Aran's Ship-Year 2557, Somewhere in Space**

Samus and Master Chief were almost at the planet that was mistaken for Earth. No Space Pirate attacks on their travel. No GFS transmissions. Nothing. The silence for so long wasn't natural.

"This is strange. We haven't had any interruptions during so long," Samus said.

"It's only been a couple hours. Maybe we're in a galaxy completely abandoned," Master Chief guessed.

"Maybe," Samus said. "But I'm going to stay alert." There was a long pause.

"Chief! I'm picking something up nearby!" Cortana notified.

"What is it? Another frigate?" Samus asked.

"No. Look over there!" Cortana pointed over in a direction. Chief squinted (behind his helmet, of course) and stared, surprised. Samus looked over there, too.

"A ring? I have no time for that," Samus said. Master Chief ran over and grabbed Samus's shoulder.

"You have no idea what that is," he said.

"It's a ring. What's to learn?" Samus wondered.

"Samus, that isn't _just a ring_. That is a _Halo,_" Cortana said.

"Wow, big difference. I wonder if it belongs to an angel," Samus said sarcastically. Cortana sighed.

"A Halo is a weapon of mass destruction built by an ancient race known as the Forerunner. If activated, this weapon will destroy the _entire_ galaxy. The Forerunner built it as a weapon to starve the Flood," Cortana explained. "Though whoever activates it will die as well," she added.

"We destroyed two already," Chief said.

"And on the second one we stopped an evil Prophet from killing everything, in which he tricked the Covenant to believe it was a religious journey, the so-called Great Journey," Cortana explained.

"Do we have to worry about it now? I am trying to end the Space Pirates' plan," Samus said.

"Fine. We'll go to Enrekeita," Cortana finished.

"Thank you," Samus replied.

* * *

**Space Pirate Homeworld-Year 2557, Empire Entrance**

"_Yes_," Ridley said slowly.

"_It **is** human._" The Arbiter narrowed his eyes. The phazonide minion paused and listened.

"Or should I say, it _was_ human. Now it is engulfed by the deadly chemical phazon," Ridley said. "We bombed the town of Eurok with phazon once, and someone, as we thought they would, called the UNSC to come in their ships. When the ship flew over the first explosion site, we detonated another phazon-bomb. All of the marines died except for one, and he is right next to you." The Arbiter looked over at the phazonide minion, who was staring at him back.

"Are you a Spartan?" the Arbiter asked. What a stupid question to ask when the thing couldn't respond because its brain is 100 corrupted. The phazonide minion roared and darted at the Arbiter, and missed an attempt to melee the Arbiter with its gun. The Arbiter shot a spike grenade and hit the phazonide minion in its stomach. The grenade exploded, and there was a giant hole in the phazonide minion's gut.

"Haha," the Arbiter laughed. The phazonide minion cracked its neck intimidatingly, and the hole simply reformed to its original shape. A blue tentacle reached out and grabbed the Arbiter. Nothing was happening as a phazon tentacle wrapped the Arbiter. Ridley grew enraged.

"Why isn't anything happening? The phazon should kill..." Ridley paused when he saw the Arbiter break the tentacle and roared. He looked over at Ridley.

"Oh, my...God!" Ridley yelled. The Arbiter's right arm was throbbing with the blue chemical on it. He had mutated. On the very same side, his right half of his face was covered with phazon as well. The eye was white, and the rest of his body was normal.

"No! The phazon mutated the freaking idiot!" Ridley screeched, and bashed his claws on the balcony. The balcony was chipped, and the small piece of debris hit Tura in the head. Tura fell to the ground. Nearly going insane, Ridley forced hisself to command the Space Pirates.

"Take the unconscious one, and let all the Pirates go inside. I have to deal with this imbecile myself," Ridley told Krumarai. Krumarai nodded, and the Pirates took Tura's unconscious body inside. The Arbiter glared at Ridley.

"Why must you be so harsh?" the Arbiter barked. Ridley jumped down and stood on both legs, not hunching at all.

"My plan must continue...I must kill Samus...and...and..." Ridley paused. He was acting tired. "Kill anyone who gets in my way!" he yelled. He raised a claw, and attempted to crush the Arbiter, but missed. The Arbiter accidentally jumped and started to roll down the hill. Ridley flew upward and glided through the air. Then Ridley dived in at the Arbiter again. The Arbiter was rolling too fast to be hit, so Ridley saved himself from hitting the ground again.

"You will die tonight!" Ridley screeched. He spat red phazon, and it had almost hit the Arbiter. The Arbiter finally gained his balance and got up. He held his Energy Sword out. Ridley dove in and gripped the Arbiter with his claws tightly, one of the Arbiter's arms free. The Arbiter swung the sword at Ridley, and tried to slit him, but it didn't work. Ridley raised a claw, and readied to slaughter the Arbiter-right here and right now.

"Ridley!" a voice called. Ridley stopped and looked over at the source of the sound.

"Aran," he whispered. Ridley dropped the Arbiter-the Arbiter posed no threat now. The Arbiter got up, and almost shot Ridley with his Fuel Rod, but didn't. Ridley ascended into the air, and dove in towards Samus. He landed just in front of Samus-but didn't kill her.

"Why don't you just kill me now, demon!" Samus called to Ridley.

"Because I want your death to be _slow and steady_," Ridley said. Samus started firing at Ridley, and so did Master Chief. He was outnumbered-Ridley had three enemies on him; how would he win? Another stupid question.

Samus walked slowly out, but was pelted by the acid rain. She had to retreat back under her ship.

"John, don't go out there!" she told Chief. Master Chief didn't question why-he simply nodded. The Arbiter walked slowly towards Ridley.

"What's the matter, Aran? Can't handle a little _rain_?" Ridley taunted. Samus ignored Ridley. It was just like him to taunt like that.

"Where's Phantoon, Ridley?" Samus called. Ridley rolled his yellow eyes.

"He isn't here, I'll tell you that," Ridley replied.

"Where, then?" Master Chief asked. Ridley looked over at Master Chief.

"Nice, Samus. You have found yourself a mate!" Ridley laughed maniacally. Samus got ticked off. She nearly loaded a Super Missle-Ridley's main weakness-but stopped when she noticed that Ridley had been stunned somehow. Ridley fell face-flat (which must be hard 'cause he has a dragon's snout) and revealed the culprit of the stunning. The Arbiter stood there, with his mutated arm waving around very slightly.

"Arbiter?" Chief said.

"You!" Samus screamed and ran at the Arbiter, gun ready, yet only to be stopped by Master Chief.

"This Space Pirate must be killed!" Samus yelled, struggling to escape Master Chief's grip.

"He's with us!" Master Chief yelled. Samus stopped struggling, and Master Chief let her go.

"How so?" she wondered, panting.

"He's not a Space Pirate. He's an _Elite_. The Elites allied with us before our war was over-and they helped stop it-him especially," Master Chief said.

"But...its cellular structure is so much like a Space Pirate's!" Samus said.

"Cellular structure has nothing to do with what side you're on," Cortana told Samus. Samus calmed down. The Arbiter had his alienoid jaw-dropped.

"Spartan? You're alive?" he said, voice rising in pitch.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am."

"But...the ring-"

"Didn't stop Spartan 117," Master Chief said.


	6. The Space Pirate Empire

**Space Pirate Homeworld-Year 2557, Empire Entrance**

The Arbiter stared off into the storm. It was at its worst right now. He wondered why neither he nor Ridley was hurt from the green droplets-but Spartan and Samus _was. _It was a mystery yet to be solved. But not the highest prioritary mystery to be solved right now.

"I have terrible news I believe you may not want to hear. My Elites are trapped in the building over there," the Arbiter broke the silence as he pointed at the colosseum building he was recently in.

"That is where Phantoon most likely is. We need to check it anyway," Samus said.

"But, Ridley just said-"

"Elite, listen! Ridley has lied over what he'd do for the humans thousands of times. I doubt he will stop now," Samus snapped.

"We need a plan," Master Chief said.

"Any ideas, Chief?" Cortana asked.

"Yes. Samus will search for Phantoon in the palace in one wing, while the Arbiter and I will go set his Elites free of the Space Pirates. If we have no luck, we will switch wings." Chief said.

"Let's go," Samus said. "But be careful of the acid rain." The Arbiter ran up the hill and stood at the entrance, and Samus and Chief followed. Samus hacked the door, and it opened. Cortana opened a different door, and Chief ran halfway in.

"Come on, Arbiter!" Cortana yelled. The Arbiter looked at the unconscious body of Ridley, on the ground, pelted by the acid rain. Once he noticed the body move slightly, the Arbiter immediately ran in.

"We must hurry," the Arbiter said.

* * *

**Space Pirate Homeworld-Year 2557, Space Pirate Empire Wing 6fA**

"Ridley just moved out there." Chief and the Arbiter ran up a staircase and found a new weapon on the ground. It looked a ton like a Brute Spiker. Chief picked it up and started to fire it. Little green pellets shot out and exploded when it hit the floor.

"That is a Battlehammer. Or, that is what Ridley called it," the Arbiter said.

"Is it deadly?"

"Yes," the Arbiter replied.

"Good," Chief said. They ran through a door and heard some footsteps. Master Chief went to the side of the wall and put his back to it, almost unnoticable. The Arbiter hid behind the doorway as well. Chief peered over through the doorway and saw a Space Pirate. It was coming this way.

_Crap_, Master Chief thought. The Space Pirate walked through the door, and immediately the Arbiter pounded it hard onto the ground. The Pirate fell, guts pouring out. Ouch.

"Why did you do that?" Master Chief asked. The Arbiter looked at him. The Arbiter kneeled, and brushed his hand on the Pirate's back.

"Backside sensors. It would've seen us once it got by us," the Arbiter said. "I don't really think we want _anything_ to see us in here."

"Good point. Continue," Chief said. The Arbiter ran through the doorway, and Master Chief followed suit. This was a big room, but, luckily, no Space Pirates in sight. The Arbiter walked slowly ahead.

"Wait!" Cortana yelled. The Arbiter paused.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Yank me," she said to Master Chief. He pulled the microchip from behind his head and placed it on the ground. Cortana's computerized body walked out. She snapped her computerized fingers, and red lasers appeared across the floor. The Arbiter was a few inches from the closest one, so he jumped back.

"Have we almost called in a squadron of Space Pirates?" the Arbiter asked with his deep voice.

"No-" Cortana touched the laser. She was an AI so it couldn't set the alarm off. "No, actually. The alarm would just sound, and the one stupid enough to stomp on the laser will be overstabbed by hundreds of spikes, shooting out of the wall," Cortana explained. The Arbiter looked around.

"Are they watching us?" he asked.

"No. But if Ridley was awake, yes. He has eyes that can hack everything artificially, meaning he can hack the things to see what would happen, while in truth, the object of technology is untouched by any force."

"So that's why he could identify my cellular structure," the Arbiter said. Master Chief walked up.

"Any ideas what did _this_ to him?" he asked, pinching the Arbiter's arm slightly. Cortana squinted.

"He appears to have the least reactive isotope of the chemical phazon, which is a chemical highly reactive to carbon," Cortana said.

"Spartan...a human did this to me," the Arbiter said, turning to Master Chief.

"How so?"

"A marine was corrupted by it. How, I do not know. But he sent a phazonide tentacle out to me. Now, I'm infected. It's like a more gradual Flood," the Arbiter replied.

"Right only _this_ is a chemical. It can't be stopped as far as our knowledge takes us," Cortana said. The Arbiter ran over to a wall that led up to another floor.

"Come. I believe my Elites are this way," the Arbiter said. He clawed into the wall with his phazonide arm, and pulled himself up with his unaffected arm. Slowly, but steadily, the Arbiter managed to get himself up onto the floor above.

"Clear," Master Chief heard the Arbiter say, and he grabbed some machinery that stuck out and pulled himself up, too. He had already put Cortana back into his helmet. Chief stood up, and saw the purple sky with acid rain. Beyond a large wall Kraid sat, sleeping.

"Careful, Spartan. That green creature does not die from mere gunshots," the Arbiter said. The colosseum was abandoned: the Space Pirates were too busy in a different chamber. They walked and saw a gap in the wall, in which Master Chief looked down and saw Kraid. Near Kraid was a white body of an Elite with a spike driven through it.

"Arbiter. Is that...the shipmaster?" Chief asked. The Arbiter looked out and stared at the white armoured Elite as well.

"Ytrian didn't deserve to die so harshly," the Arbiter said quietly. "Come." The Arbiter and Master Chief walked down into a different room, and noticed that they were on a large glass hallway that hovered above a squadron of Space Pirates that had jetpacks on their backs.

"By the Prophets," the Arbiter whispered, to where Chief could hear.

"I'm thinking we have to sneak," Cortana said. The Arbiter nodded and walked out. Slowly, he creeped on the glass hallway. Halfway through, he noticed a gap in the hallway.

"Get over here, Spartan," he said over to Chief. Master Chief creeped over slowly and noticed the gap as well.

"Crap," Master Chief said.

"I will go first." The Arbiter jumped across the gap silently, or, it _was_ silent, until the Arbiter accidentally lost his balance, and fell, his armor making a _Clank!_ on the glass. He got up and brushed himself off, and looked out of the glass. The Space Pirates were staring at him.

"Yugata!" the commander of the squadron called, and the Space Pirate's jets rocketed blue fire, and they started to fly towards the glass. _They were going to shatter it._

"Spartan! Jump!" the Arbiter yelled. Master Chief took a quick look at the approaching fiends, and leaped across the gap as well. He landed more gracefully than the Arbiter did, and they took off and ran. They were lucky enough to escape the room before the glass shattered and the Space Pirates flew in and chased them like bees would. The Arbiter pointed up a wrecked staircase, and Chief ran up, Arbiter following him. The flying Space Pirates were gaining. They ran up the staircase, leaving some stairs falling. Why the staircase was wrecked the Arbiter had no idea. They ran up and entered a large room. The room sort of looked like it was designed for a Space Pirate Major.

"Perhaps Ridley's throne?" the Arbiter suggested.

"You're wrong, Arbiter," a voice said. The Arbiter looked around him. Nothing.

"Cortana! What was that?" Master Chief asked. The voice laughed in a ghostly manner.

"I'm not sure," Cortana replied. The flying Space Pirates hesitated to continue any further once they reached the top of the stairs.

"Who are you?" the Arbiter called. From behind the Arbiter a large, round monster with two short tentacles appeared, its eye in its mouth. The Arbiter looked behind him. Nothing.

"Where are you?" the Arbiter called.

"I am in your mind, Arbiter," the voice said. The Arbiter looked over at Chief.

"Do you think it could be Gravemind?" he asked. Chief shrugged.

"Behind you!" Cortana called. The Arbiter looked behind him, and so did Chief. There was the monster.

"Who are you?" the Arbiter demanded, extending an Energy Sword.

"I? I am Phantoon," the voice said and laughed out loud.

"And your friends are gone," Phantoon added. He then disappeared and levitated over his throne. Krumarai walked out, assault rifle ready.

"Spartan! That is the human that did this to me!" the Arbiter said.

"I do not mean to hurt you, Arbiter," Phantoon spoke slowly and ghostly. "I am here to do something that your Prophet could never do-finish the Great Journey."

"That's preposturous! The Great Journey is a fraud," the Arbiter said.

"Is it?" Phantoon asked. "Or was the Prophet trying to lead the Covenant to peace?" The Arbiter narrowed his eyes.

"You sound just like him," he said.

"Now you are the one who sounds preposturous. I am here to help you, Arbiter," Phantoon said, and disappered to be behind the Arbiter. The Arbiter turned around.

"Don't tell anyone, but...Ridley is here to hurt you. I am a traitor," Phantoon said. The voice of Phantoon this time was echoing. He was using telepathy so only the Arbiter could hear it.

"I'm going to fire the rings, Arbiter. And you will enjoy the feeling of death, and going to eternal paradise," Phantoon hissed in the Arbiter's head.

"No! No! Get away from me!" the Arbiter yelled. "Get out of my head!" The Arbiter looked up, and Phantoon looked stumped.

"What are you talking about? Are you _insane?_" Phantoon asked to where everything could hear it. The Arbiter was angry. Phantoon turned to the Space Pirates. "Dismissed," he said. The Pirates left. They have to obey the Pirate Major. Phantoon floated over to the Arbiter.

"I cannot let Ridley hear of this," Phantoon said. He was levitating the Arbiter upward. The Arbiter was starting to choke.

"If he does by your mouth, Krumarai will have your head," Phantoon said, and dropped the Arbiter. He disappeared, and this time he didn't reappear. Krumarai stared at the Arbiter for a second, and walked backwards, until he was out of sight.

"What was that all about?" Master Chief asked, staring at the Arbiter.

"He is going to fire the rings," the Arbiter said.

* * *

**Space Pirate Homeworld-Year 2557, Space Pirate Empire Wing 7hY**

Samus already twisted around many corners and corridors. She didn't sneak like what Chief and the Arbiter did: she killed every Space Pirate in sight, no matter how hard the wave was. She ran down a staircase, killed a few more Space Pirates, and ran into a room. The room had a giant wall in it, with about twenty Space Pirates surrounding it. There was something on the other side. Without being noticed yet, Samus rolled into Morph Ball and laid a Power Bomb to decimate the the numbers of the Space Pirates. Now, there was enough for her to simply stand and fire. The surviving Space Pirates started running at Samus, and she unrolled and started to fire the Flamethrower. (Those who have not played Metroid Prime at all, the Flamethrower is a Missle combo mixing the Missle with the Plasma Beam, which burns foes) The Pirates fell over and died. Samus immediately ran to the other side of the wall. She looked down, and there were Elites on the ground, three of them decapitated, the other two standing, armorless, looking just plain exhausted. Samus gasped.

"What did they do to you?" she asked.

"Horrible, horrible things..." one of the two said. Now she believed Master Chief and the Arbiter about the Elites not being Space Pirates-their unarmoured bodies look nearly nothing like one.

"Wait...aren't you the demon that attacked our ship randomly?" an Elite asked. Samus blushed, not like anyone could see it.

"Well, yeah," she said, and scratched the back of her helmet embarrassed.

"What by the Prophets are you doing here, then?" asked the Elite, Tura, narrowing his eyes.

"I'm here with...your leader...and we are searching separately. I'm trying to find Phantoon-" Tura immediately started to have his head hurt. No one knows why, but he was moaning. The other Elite looked at Samus.

"Phantoon?" he asked.

"Yes, Phantoon," Samus said. "The Space Pirate Major that comitted a crime, long ago," she added. The Elites raised their heads.

"No, he is about to commit another," Tura said.

"What's that?" Samus asked, ready to kill Phantoon.

"He is going to fire the sacred rings, the task our Prophets failed to complete," Tura said.

"Then you should be happy," Samus replied.

"No. The Great Journey is what the Prophet called it, and he failed to finish it for the Elites and the Covenant. The Great Journey is a _fraud._ It was a suicidal attempt the Prophet took, and he almost did, but we were lucky enough he didn't.," Tura explained.

"I still don't get something. What is this _ring_ supposed to do?" Samus asked.

"We'd rather stop it so we don't have to tell you," Tura said. Samus turned around.

"Come on. We need to find the Arbiter," she said. "And John."

"Who's John?" the other Elite asked.

"Spartan 117." The two Elites were still stumped.

"You'll know him when you see him," Samus said. The two Elites looked at each other, shrugged and followed Samus. They went to the crossover hall and waited. About six minutes later, Master Chief and the Arbiter ran down from the side opposite of where the Elites were.

"Good! You found...most of my brothers," the Arbiter said sadly.

"Where are the others?" he asked Tura.

"Executed. By the Space Pirates."

"Vile, hostile creatures!" the Arbiter yelled. "We must kill Ridley to end the Space Pirate Empire once and for all," he added.

"You can't kill Ridley just like _that_," Samus said, snapping her fingers under the italicized word. "It takes time. He lived for centuries, and the only way to end his life is when his sixteen-century life span is over," Samus said. "We can send him dormant for so many weeks. That's it."

"How many centuries has he lived?" Master Chief asked.

"Only about seven," Samus said. Ridley is old, huh? "A normal Space Pirate soldier dies of old age by around three-hundred, but earlier by any other cause," she added.

"Kraid will live approximately ten centuries, Draygon six centuries, and Phantoon..." Samus paused.

"What about him?" the Arbiter asked.

"Well, Phantoon is already dead," Samus said.

"He is going to fire the sacred rings," the Arbiter said.

"We have already informed her, Arbiter," Tura said.

"We have to go stop Phantoon," Cortana told out. Everyone nodded and walked out. A giant, winged creature was on the balcony ahead of them.

"Stop Phantoon from doing what?" it asked. The Arbiter narrowed his eyes.

"Ridley," he said lowly and quietly.


	7. Halo

**Space Pirate Homeworld-Year 2557, Empire Entrance**

"What is Phantoon doing that I'm not helping him on, Arbiter?" Ridley asked. The Arbiter opened his mouth to speak, but closed it immediately.

_If Ridley learns what I'm doing by your mouth, Krumarai will have your head. _That thought Phantoon had telepathically told the Arbiter haunted him so. But he had to tell Ridley. Ridley wouldn't be the one to kill the Arbiter, and the Arbiter was already dying from consumption of phazon. What could be worse than that?

"Phantoon...is going to fire a set of rings that will kill all sentient life with in galactic range. Without you. He is going to try to kill all of your Space Pirates..." the Arbiter finally had the whole idea snapped in his mind. Phantoon was already dead, and the phazonide minions were a chemical, not sentient life. If Phantoon fired the rings, the Space Pirates would be out of the picture, and _he _would create a new race of beings completely consumed by phazon. All life would bow to him. This was all a harsh plan to get respect from all intelligent existence.

"Arbiter! Are you awake?" Ridley snapped.

"Phantoon is going to kill your Pirates purposely, so he can create his own race of phazon-consumed creatures, and he'd be bowed down to. He is going to _kill_ everything, and go to a different galaxy to spread phazon! It all makes sense now..." the Arbiter said. Ridley was stumped.

"That was probably the most intellectual thing you've ever said since I've met you, Arbiter. And yes, it does make sense, except for the ring part," Ridley said. "Where did you get rings from?" The Arbiter opened his mouth, but Samus reached out and cupped it.

"If you come along, we can explain," she said. She regret saying that, but they may just need Ridley to stop Phantoon. Ridley sighed, and shook his head.

"Aran, Aran, Aran...Are you asking me to join forces?" Ridley asked, laughing. Samus looked embarrassed, and again, no one knew.

"Yes..." Samus said. Ridley laughed in screeches.

"Not likely," he mumbled, and extended his wings. Ridley took off into the distance, and flew out to space. Strangely enough, Ridley can breathe in space. Samus sighed.

"Well, he's gone," Chief said.

"But isn't it odd how he didn't attempt to kill us? After all we've done?" the Arbiter asked.

"Yes," Cortana replied. "Too odd." They ran down the hill to Samus's ship, and nothing was there.

"Oh, no," Samus said. "Ridley crushed my ship."

"We're going to have to hi-jack a Space Pirate flagship," Chief said. He looked at the Arbiter.

"Just like old times?" he asked. The Arbiter nodded. If you played the Halo games, you'd know that you can jack Ghosts, Wraiths, Banshees, etc. from enemies, leaving the enemies undefended. Well, what Samus, the Arbiter and his Elites, and Master Chief were going to do was similar. The only difference is no one is driving the vehicle while they jacked it. They ran back up the hill and into the Empire, and it was quiet. Maybe the Space Pirates believe Phantoon and followed him to the Haloes. Even so, the Space Pirates were still bad guys. They had to stop them. Samus jumped into the cockpit of a Stinger, which was the kind of vehicle she stole to escape from Zebes before the original Space Pirate Mothership exploded. Luckily, the Stinger was big enough for all five of them and more. She fidgeted with the controls, and it started up. Master Chief looked into the window and saw a thump pointing up.

**Stolen Stinger-Year 2557, Space Pirate Homeworld**

"We're good," he said. The Elites nodded, and got into the cargo hold of the Stinger.

"This is strangely similar to what happened to us. What we are doing," the Arbiter said, sitting on a bench.

"No, actually, it is slightly different, and not by the identity of the crminals," Cortana said assuringly. The Arbiter looked up.

"How so?"

"Well, the Prophets were going to fire the rings and kill theirselves. They had a deathwish, and they wanted to take everything with them. Now, Phantoon is trying to build a loyal civilization of phazonide organisms, which can't die unless it can somehow be terminated. The phazon, I mean," Cortana explained. The Arbiter lifted his arm up and looked at it.

"Then, maybe, we can cure me of this, before I become one of _them," _he said. Tura looked up at the Arbiter.

"I forgot to ask, but...how did this happen to you, Arbiter?" he asked. The Arbiter looked at Tura.

"Well-"

"Phazon. He was infected by the least reactive isotope of the element/chemical phazon. Phazon is extremely reactive with carbon, which is in all living organisms. In fact, the Arbiter was lucky not to die. My suggestion is, don't touch him," Cortana explained. The Arbiter lowered his head slightly.

"A human did this to me..." he said, doubtfully. "But it is no longer human. Phantoon _changed _him. Now, it is basically a walking chemical..." the Arbiter said. He looked up at Master Chief. "The human was one of him," the Arbiter mumbled, pointing at Master Chief. Master Chief held up his hands.

"Hey, don't look at me. I didn't bring phazon into the universe. I was trapped in a capsule for five years," he said. "I really doubt a capsuled superhuman could cause such a disaster."

"I've picked up some more information on the Halo," Cortana said.

"What about it that we are not aware of?" the other Elite, Huta, said.

"Well...this one is slightly different. It'll take Phantoon more than just pressing a button and inserting the Index into it to fire the rings. He needs one more piece of equipment: the Memory," Cortana explained.

"Then why are we worrying over this?" Tura asked.

"Because Phantoon knows where to find the Memory. Only problem is, I don't," Cortana replied. A sudden force pushed down on the passengers.

"What was that?" the Arbiter asked. They suddenly heard a quick but shrill _beep!_ and Samus spoke over the intercom.

"We have left the atmosphere of the Space Pirate Homeworld. We will probably get to the Halo in about one hour. Oh, and thank you for choosing Stolen Space Pirate Intergalactic Airlines," she joked. Unluckily for her joke, Master Chief was never taught a sense of humor in his vigorous training in his childhood as a Spartan, and the Elites never understood human jokes. Samus sighed and switched to auto-pilot. About one-minute later, the passengers heard another beep, but it wasn't as annoying. The green door of the Stinger that led out into the main deck twisted open, and Samus walked in.

"If you guys are hungry, the...kitchen...is just through the door and to the right," she said. Master Chief slowly got up.

"I could use a bite," he said and walked out. They wouldn't be seeing him for a while.

* * *

**Halo-Year 2557, First Area**

After many hours, Ridley finally landed on a deck on the Halo. He flew much faster than Samus and the Elites did. As he docked, he noticed it was quiet. He looked up. Nothing but an ice world, much like Phendrana Drifts. But it wasn't. Ridley had no idea what the design of the Halo was, but he smelled Space Pirate. He knew he was in the right place. Now was time to figure out what Phantoon was doing that Ridley didn't know about. He stood up on his two hind legs and strided down the titanium catwalk on the Halo.

"Tch! Some super-weapon. This is more like a planet!" Ridley said aloud. His deep, occasionally screeching voice echoed among the mountains. Ridley sighed and kicked a door down that normally would be locked. (The colors on it were red; that means locked) After his successful door break, he tucked in his large wings and dropped down to all fours. He then crawled through the small doorway, just barely fitting, and made it into a building. Once he realized the ceiling wasn't 17-feet tall, Ridley stayed on all fours. Good thing he still had his phazon breath armed-he always does.

Ridley was lucky to have harnessed the stronger isotope of phazon-the odds were against him when he first had it injected, but, unfortunately for the Galactic Federation and all of its allies, Ridley managed to beat the odds. How? He had something that Samus, Master Chief and him had all their life. Luck. Ridley had survived about seven failed encounters with Samus, being badly injured every time, and yet he was still alive, and still trying. Like Samus said: the only way to kill Ridley is when he reaches his life-span's end. What they could do is isolate Ridley by deep-freezing him and waiting for seven more centuries. But would that be worth it? Would that work? Play Metroid Fusion to find out.

Ridley melted a door with his lava-hot flame breath-he could separate between phazon and fire-and crawled through out to an exit. Now, he could stand again, on his two hind legs. So he did. It was a cold land ahead; it was a large range of icy mountains. Wouldn't stop Ridley. He extended his wings and launched into the air and propelled against the wind in order to proceed. This base was here-maybe there were others on the Halo? Who knows. Ridley beat the strong wind current that forced against him; with large wings like his, this was possible. Ridley kept his well-developed eyesight switching sight locations constantly. No base was found for miles. Ridley did, however, see something dreaded among the Covenant, Elites, and UNSC alike. Of course, he mistook it for a Taridian. If it would wipe out a whole species, why bother trying to approach it? Yet another stupid question to ask.

It has been three hours-and Samus had lied. The Stinger wasn't there just yet. But anyway, Ridley was at a decent looking base on a tropical island. To Ridley, the Halo was like an exact copy of Tallon IV. Ah, the memories. The horrible, horrible memories. He docked on a beach and saw a lone Space Pirate waddling along the sand. Ooh, goody! It's interrogation time! Ridley extended his wings and dashed at an unimaginable speed towards the Space Pirate. As soon as Ridley got to it (which was in about one second...or less?) he grabbed the Pirate and wrapped his claw around the struggling alien. Ridley spoke in a language only the Pirates understood.

"Oit krutali Phanoton?" he screeched, which meant ' where is Phantoon?' in Space Pirate language. Startled, the Space Pirate mumbled lowly.

"Hu yat!" he said, which meant 'up there!' and pointed up towards the top of a cliff, where a titanium building was. Ridley threw the Pirate to the ground and rocketed up to the top. You may be wondering why the Space Pirates don't form a revolt against Ridley for actions like that; Ridley had a deadly weapon in which never failed him other than on Samus: red phazon. Ridley stopped flapping and stretched his wings slightly beyond the muscles in the wing lobes' limit: that's Ridley's way of landing. He slammed on the ground and stood up on his hind legs. Two Space Pirates of the elite squadron were guarding the door into the base. Ridley walked up to them, cool, calm, and collected written all over him except for his face. He stopped in front of the guards, and they looked at him strangely. These were most likely clones-Space Pirates who are the same age and same appearance as the original one before it was cloned, but they lose the original one's memory. Ridley sighed.

"Meeee, Riiidddllleeeyyyaaa," Ridley said slowly and sarcastically. One of the guards snapped into awake mode and opened the door. Apparently the other was a clone and the original just forgot. Ridley fell to all fours and tucked in his batlike wings, and then he carefully crawled through the door. Once Ridley's spiky tail slipped its whole way in, the Space Pirate shut the door.

This was an extraordinarily large titanium outpost. It was so large, Ridley could stand on his two hind legs. He could even fit Kraid in the main deck for cryin' out loud. As he walked in, Space Pirates froze and stared. After a few seconds, they went back to what they were doing. This was good-it means a majority of them are _not _clones. We wouldn't want that. Ridley asked a few Space Pirates how to get to the main chamber Phantoon was in, and they directed him. Ridley twisted around a corner and bumped into someone so loyal to him before that Ridley grew slightly enraged.

"Weavel? Why are you here?" Ridley asked, stunned. Weavel can speak English, so Ridley had to switch languages.

"Don't you know? Major Phantoon is going to fire these rings and destroy the Galactic Federation's forces!" Weavel replied. Ridley shook his head in total doubt.

"You fool! He is going to kill _you_ and the others as well!" Ridley said. Weavel simply shrugged. He had the right to do that in front of Ridley: Weavel plays a major part in the Space Pirate Hierarchy.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Weavel said, kind of not scared that the galaxy's sentient life could be at stake here. Ridley sighed a screechy sigh.

"Dismissed," he said, and Weavel extended his plasma sword and crossed it against his chest: that is the Cybernetic Space Pirate's way to salute. Weavel then walked off. Ridley zipped his way through corridors and towers, and yet even if he hit a Space Pirate to the ground, they all knew he was in a rush.

* * *

**Halo-Year 2557, Firing Altar**

"How on Enrekeita do you work this thing?!" Phantoon yelled off into the large room, and his ghastly voice echoed. Krumarai stared at him. Phantoon turned around and glared at Krumarai, the phazonide minion. (Do keep in mind some non-dialogue is also said by Phantoon, like his point of view, kind of. I did this because he's a ghost)

"Well? Why aren't you calculating coordinates?" Phantoon screamed. Krumarai shrugged and ran over to the database and let blue phazon slide through its ridges. Phantoon is pretty slow, eh? Surely he would've played the Halo games, right? Eh. A map appeared above the overrun system, and it said coordinates like the closest planets...if the asteroid belt nearby will hit them...there was a Stinger gradually approaching them...

What? A Stinger? Ooh, goody! This is really good! Now we have more Space Pirates coming in! Phantoon quickly told Krumarai to greet them in case they're spies. Krumarai ran out just as so. Phantoon fidgeted with the destruction sequence of the Halo. Let's see...we need an Index to slip in here...and we need a...what's this? A Memory? Great, yet another item to obtain.

"Need a little help, Phantoon?" a deep voice called. Phantoon turned around and saw a ticked off Ridley, complete with a blue phazonide shield and the Space Pirate version of a needler.

"Tsk tsk tsk...I'm already dead, Ridley," Phantoon said in a taunting way. "If I wasn't, how could I do this?" and Phantoon just disappeared and reappeared behind Ridley.

"Such an old trick, Phantoon. Give it up! What are you aiming to do to my Pirates?" Ridley screeched. Phantoon made a ghastly laugh.

"That Arbiter's head is my trophy," he whispered. Ridley heard him.

"_Your_ trophy? He is _my _target after I finally slay Samus!" Ridley said. Phantoon floated over to the control panel, and Ridley followed.

"I am going to find the Index with ease...and then the final obstacle shall only be tracking the Memory down!" Phantoon said. Ridley's eyes turned blood-red, still with no pupils.

"Do you even know what you are doing?" Ridley said, angered. Phantoon laughed again. That meant yes. Phantoon laughed again.

"A better question is...can you stop me?" Phantoon taunted. Oh, now it was on. Ridley was T-I-C-K-E-D off. It's amazing how easily you can anger a super-intelligent genius seventeen foot tall batlike winged chemical spitting dragon, and did I mention leader of a near unstoppable group of invaders? I'm not sure if I did, (sarcasm used) but the sentence I had just spat was a mouthful. Ridley shot a few upgraded needles from the Space Pirate Needler. No effect. Duh. Ridley dropped the Needler and dashed at Phantoon way too fast for Phantoon to disappear in time, and Ridley slammed his sharp claws into Phantoon's one eye, which was in his mouth, and Ridley hit full-force, nail tip first. Ouch. Phantoon moaned horribly, and disappeared in time to recover. He wasn't...er...re-dead (not referring to those creepy zombies from Zelda: Ocarina of Time) yet. Ridley busted a door down, and fell until he caught a titanium balcony. He climbed himself up and perched, looking down. _Perfect, _Ridley thought. He saw the Elites with MC (that refers to Master Chief for those who don't know) and Samus, fighting Krumarai. Typical. _Well,_ Ridley thought, _both of us are for the same target. What the heck._ He swooped down quietly-the fray was too loud to hear Ridley land behind the phazonide minion. Everyone but Krumarai took a quick scared glance at the tall Ridley, who put a claw's finger over his mouth. Okay, freaky. Now the protagonists were stunned. Ridley hacked (the coughing kind of hack) and spat up red phazon over the blue phazon in Krumarai. The red phazon covered the blue, and Krumarai melted to the ground, no blue left. Ridley lowered his head down and slurped the red phazon on the ground. MC looked at the Arbiter, who just shrugged in response.

"I just did you fools a favor," Ridley said. "And I'm about to do another."

Samus was stunned. _Okay. I'm starting to think my mind was just corrupted by phazon, _she thought.

"And what favor is that? Putting us out of our misery?" the Arbiter retorted. Ridley laughed.

"Believe me, I _so _rather to do that than what I'm going to do. Have you imbeciles heard of...say, an Index?" Ridley asked. MC and the Arbiter looked at each other, and so did Tura and Huta.

"We detonated two of these other rings. Of course we know where the Index would be!" the Arbiter yelled.

"Where may that be?" Ridley wondered, sounding serious. There was a pause.

"The Library," Cortana announced. Ridley was stumped again. Someone else hasn't been playing the Halo games. Cortana knew what the green colored eyes Ridley had on meant.

"The Library is where you find the Index," she said. Samus held two fingers to her helmet: she was recording this stuff down. Commander Kiva will surely want to hear all this. Ridley looked at the Stinger.

"Use the Stinger. I'll stay out as you fly; I'll fly and turn the lock down to the Library," Ridley said. MC nodded and ran in as well as Samus, Tura, and Huta. The Arbiter looked at Ridley in disgust.

"Give me the approximate time you'll turn on us," he demanded. Ridley smiled deviously, showing his razor white teeth, and drooling red phazon. Then he noticed the phazon infused onto the Arbiter's arm and face-it was worse now. Now, the Arbiter's mouth was corrupted, as well as a portion of his ancient silver armor that shone gold in the sunlight. Ridley then focused back on the Arbiter's demand.

"Arbiter...that would be against my nature to reveal something like that. I might not turn on you. Phantoon is on my bad side right now," Ridley screeched. The Arbiter, his eyes narrowed, pointed at his face-the corrupted part.

"I'll fix that depending on if you follow what I say, and take some consideration into my ideas," Ridley told the Arbiter.

"Come on, Arbiter!" the Arbiter heard Huta say. His eyes narrowed, the Arbiter turned around and walked into the door to the cargo-hold of the Stinger and glared at Ridley as it slowly shut. The Stinger revved, and the blue fire blast out of the propeller. Ridley watched as the Stinger rose into the air. Once it was somewhat far away, Ridley rocketed into the air and was already caught up with the jet speed vehicle. My advice: never challenge or accept a race challenge from Ridley.


	8. The Library

**Halo-Year 2557, Atmospheric Mountains**

"Which direction exactly should we go?" Samus asked. She had to man the controls-some transmission prevented auto-pilot. Probably from the Halo.

"That way," Cortana pointed off with a computerized finger. Samus flew that direction and pulled the ship up. _Gah! A curve, _Samus thought. It's a freaking Halo. No duh, a curve. It took about two minutes before they heard Ridley screech out.

"Attacking defenses!" he screeched. Samus looked ahead. Woohoo! Sentry bots. This was going to be fun. Sarcasm used. The ship was inflicted on the side and shook horribly, Ridley had to slip to the side to prevent being hit down. _Watch it, nuthead, _Ridley thought. Samus thought quickly.

"John! Arbiter! Go to the side ship turrets!" she commanded, signaling Master Chief and the Arbiter. They nodded at each other and split: one turret on each side, two sides.

"This is way too easy," MC said as he pulled the trigger to the turret. Giant green shots popped out of the barrel, and MC was stunned. The sentry bots within maybe two-hundred foot range were screwed. The Stinger moved too fast to see the bots explode helplessly, but you could hear their little malfunctioning and obnoxious _Reeee! _noise that they made when they saw you in the Halo games. Yeah, Guilty Spark bots. Not 343 Guilty Spark, of course, just showing I beat Halo 3. (Those who have too know what I mean) In fact, who knew which Guilty Spark it was-no, who cared? Seriously, that guy is freaking annoying. I think we all could agree to that. The ship was hit on the front, but little damage was caused. Nothing special is in the front of a Stinger. Just the pilot. No sarcasm used. Really, Samus was fine. The glass a Stinger has in the front is extremely strong. No doubt.

Ridley reached down and stabbed a sentry bot head-on (apply directly to the forehead) with his claws at the abnormally-fast-for-a-natural-being speed he was going at. The bot exploded as expected, barely with a trace. Ridley flew up closer to the window and screeched high-pitched into it. Samus could hear him.

"Are we almost there?" he yelled. Samus looked at Cortana, who nodded in response. Samus nodded at Ridley. "Good! Now, make sure you don't let them hit the core!" Ridley screeched.

"What?" Samus asked.

"MAKE SURE YOU DON'T LET THEM HIT THE MAIN CORE!" Ridley screeched. Samus heard him, and took consideration. Crap. Usually in a situation like this, irony kicks into place. Boy, who doesn't love irony. Nothing can beat it or out-sneak it. And yes, that's what happened. Just thought I should tell you first. Ridley swooped below the Stinger, ready to hack a door open into the "Library". Seriously, what could that thing be? Where you borrow books? I mean, yeah I know what it is, I beat the Halo trilogy. I was speaking in Ridley's point of view.

A tiny little orb-like thing floated up to the Stinger's main core and-I warned you of the irony-started firing a beam at it. What? The sentry bots couldn't keep up! No. This was something else, and it's 343's emerald-green counterpart: the 347 Guilty Spark. It fired at the core, and the core started to erupt liquid mercury from the engine. Mercury? It must not effect the Space Pirates. The inner of the Stinger blasted an obnoxiously loud and annoying noise: the alarm. It was so loud, Ridley heard it. Enraged, he flew over and busted the glass down. Hey, how come that didn't work with the sentry bots? Eh, forget it.

"Why didn't you watch the core status?" he yelled. Samus looked down. One screen said 'CORE STATUS' in huge letters, and it was flashing red. Duh.

"Samus! What by the Prophets is going on?" the Arbiter yelled.

"Get back to your turret before-" she yelled but was cut off by a loud _BOOM!_ After a large shock that sent MC out of his chair, the Arbiter off of his feet, Huta and Tura hitting their heads on the ground, and Samus to be jerked forward harshly, the ship had stopped. Ridley flew over to the closest hole in a side of the Stinger and glared at Samus.

"Anything to say?" he said.

"We're here..." Samus said dizzily. Ridley shook his head angrily and tore a random Stinger wall down to find Huta and Tura. Ridley dashed in and harshly kicked them, and only Tura woke up.

"What?"

"We're at the Library," Ridley said. Tura's brain flashed awake and he knocked Huta awake and informed him. They went to inform the Arbiter, who wasn't unconscious, who then helped MC up, who went in and took Cortana's chip back into his helmet. Ridley picked up Samus with one claw and walked out past the river of liquid mercury that was flowing down.

"Hurry!" Ridley called behind him. "The Stinger will blow!" MC and the Elites zipped out. All of them ran in except the Arbiter. He walked slowly near Ridley, who was still holding Samus over his tough shoulder.

"If you are going to kill her, I believe she'll prefer it quick," the Arbiter said, eyes narrowed. Ridley laughed screechily.

"If I _was _going to kill her, I'd prefer it _nice and slow_," Ridley retorted. "But you still don't know if I'm against you or not." The Arbiter huffed and stomped off to the smashed door, thanks to the Stinger. Ridley turned around and barely took one step.

"Halt! Forerunner!" an annoying, robotic and squealy voice said. Ridley turned his head around.

"Excuse me?" Ridley barked. Samus woke up slighter, and Ridley signaled her to go into the Library. She jumped off and did just that.

"You are the Forerunner leader, and you plan on firing this ring!" the spherical robot behind Ridley said. Oh, God. Another lecture from the 347 Imanerd.

"And, who by Enrekeita are you?"

"I? I am the 347 Guilty Spark! Those sentry bots you have destroyed a while back are mine!" he yelled in an annoying fashion. Ridley shook his head and turned his whole body around.

"How long ago were you created?" Ridley wondered. The 347 Guilty Spark laughed annoyingly.

"Exactly one-hundred years ago," he said. Ridley laughed sarcastically right back.

"Well, Mr. Guilty Spark, you're memory is damaged," Ridley said.

"Why is that?" the annoying robot asked.

"Because I could very well be your creator," Ridley whispered, and as soon as he said that, he smashed the annoying little robot against a pillar. The 347 made an annoying roar. Ridley smashed the squealing sphere against the pillar multiple times, until it slipped free.

"You are demonic!" it called from far off, sparking crazily, eye almost falling out of its mechanical socket. The thing malfunctioned and zapped Ridley with a light green beam. Ow. Ridley stood there, no reaction. What an attack. Heheh. Ridley smashed the robot again, and the robot levitated its small body into a door into the Library. Ridley laughed. God, this was too freaking easy. And it was fun. Smashing an annoying and tiny, spherical robot that makes deafening cries against a titanium pillar with no holding back and no bit of mercy at all, well, that is probably the most fun you would ever have in your life. Don't believe me? You must have never interacted with the Guilty Spark models on the Halo games. Once you do, then you'll believe me. But that just makes you wonder...why the heck did MC never bother to do that? Maybe because he doesn't have gargantuan wings that allow you to fly at jet speed **_or _**an intelligence quotient beyond 541 like Ridley. Ridley walked slowly into the Library. He wanted to give number 347 a head start. Heheh. Well, you kind of have to feel somewhat sorry for the Guilty Spark. A bratty know-it-all robot that just can't stop talking or betraying. Yeah, that's him.

* * *

**Halo-Year 2557, The Library**

Samus, MC and the Elites were far into the Library. Yeah, like, about a mile inward. Whew! Just look at it this way: only about twenty-nine more miles to go. And, we lack the ability to hit jet speed. And, after the first mile, our legs hurt! You know I'm speaking in the protagonists' point of view, right? The 347 wasn't near them. Thank God. They didn't deserve the lecture about the bird and chipmunk from him.

"It smells too clean," the Arbiter said. The Elites and the other two looked at him.

"How so?" Cortana wondered.

"I usually smell Flood in here," he said. Samus snickered in her thoughts. Flood? How could you smell/fear a flood? Just the thought of it made Samus feel funny. If these guys are afraid of a flood, maybe it was worse than she thought it may be. But who cares? The Elites couldn't smell anything but cold-hard titanium and machinery. After maybe about six minutes, the 17-foot winged creature that is Ridley was behind them. Dang, he was fast.

"Well, this is too precariously easy," he said. Samus agreed, and same with the Elites, and MC. They all know that if the area is too quiet, something is waiting.

"It couldn't be Flood," Cortana said. "Gravemind was killed on the second Halo."

"Was he?" the Arbiter retorted.

"Well..." Cortana was cut off by a screech by Ridley. They looked over. It was a large, ugly and circular like a "hive" stuck on a wall.

"A...Flood hive?" Cortana wondered.

"No..." Ridley said, and scanned it with his over-developed eyes.

"No, not Flood. Worse. Taridians," Ridley replied.

"What's the difference?"

"Taridians have a tougher cellular structure, are a little more tinged in red, and they can overrun nearly anything possible including inanimate objects," Ridley replied. "If I hadn't built Mother Brain, Taridians wouldn't be here. Guilty as charged."

"Mother Brain?" the Arbiter asked.

"Enough explanations. We have to keep moving, and I'll lead. Samus will explain Mother Brain," Ridley retorted. The Arbiter nodded, eyes narrowed. He wasn't happy with that answer.

They were walking downwards the Library.

"What exactly is Mother Brain?" the Arbiter asked Samus. Samus sighed.

"Mother Brain is a creature created by Ridley long ago-his first crime, illegal experimentation. He visited SR388 and harnessed the Metroids, which are deadly creatures that suck the life right out of you through your head. He used a powerful artifact called the Mertonia Sphere, in which had a strange aura that controlled the Metroids safely. So, Ridley also got a chemical from SR388 called Glomintosin and he sacrificed one hundred Metroids' cores and the Glomintosin into a glass container connected to wires. He moved the container into Tourian, the central base of Zebes, the planet I was raised on..."

"And Samus came in to thwart us, and prevailed," Ridley interrupted. Samus glared at Ridley. He said he'd do no talking. Oh, well. Right now, the antagonist of the Metroid saga was working together with the protagonist, and Samus hopes it stays that way. Ridley could turn on them at any time. That, hopefully, will never happen, or at least until Phantoon is slain. A platform lay ahead of them. It was a dead end that dangled over an edge. Woohoo.

"Great...a dead end," MC said. Samus sighed. Ridley growled and slammed his fists on the titanium floor.

"Why does this always happen to us? Why are we always screwed like this?" he yelled. Cortana appeared on the floor.

"Actually...it's not a dead end. Tell me, Ridley, are you a proffessional hacker?" Cortana asked. Ridley's rage halted, and Ridley laughed-and meant it.

"You must be stupider than I thought."

"Good! You can hack the locks so the door ahead can open!" Cortana said, analyzing the locks' status. Ridley grinned slightly and jumped down. He looked around and spotted the locks.

"Excellent," he said, and ripped the wiring out of the lock. He snipped at wires, ripped out wires, reset wires in different locations-and it all looked like he knew what he was doing. The room was huge, and looked titaniumly regal. A little _too _regal. The Arbiter noticed something-the Library was empty. He wasn't expecting the Flood-more likely _sentry bots._ Ridley re-circuited a couple wires and then pressed a few buttons. He stuffed the wires back into the main lock and punched a hacker's code in the screen nearby. Something odd happened-it worked. The oversized door in front of the many protagonists slid open.

"People, we have a working door!" Ridley yelled proudly. The Elites cheered at Ridley's hacking expertise. Cortana wondered something though, in MC's mind.

"Chief...something strange is about Ridley. Do you want to hear a history on him?" she asked. Chief looked down and saw the others already standing on the platform programmed to progress to the next section of the Library.

"Not right now," Chief said calmly.


	9. Dim Side

**Halo-Year 2557, The Library**

Chief jumped down onto the platform.

"Yeah! Let's get ready to go to the second section," Ridley said. They waited as the platform slowly progressed ahead...slowly...slowly...

**_BOOOOOM!!!!_**

"What the heck?" Ridley said. he looked. 347. Crap. It was 347 again. Seriously, what was wrong with this guy? And how did he set off such a huge shock?

"Unacceptable Forerunner! Get off my ring!" it called. Samus looked up to see the deformed robot floating in the air. Its eye was dangling in its socket. She raised her gun. Yippee, a sentry bot to destroy! Suddenly, a large set of robots and three huge, shielded sentry bots appeared. There were thousands of them.

"You will not be permitted into the Library's main chamber!" 347 Guilty Spark yelled in rising tone. Ridley glared at him, laughing.

"You mean the one we're about to enter?" Ridley joked. 347 turned red and shot a powerful beam that leads to immediate pwnage on Halo 3 into Ridley's chest. Ridley flew backwards and regained balance. He had to take pain-but he couldn't die-just yet. Ridley staggered upward and smashed the robot against the ground again and again. Woohoo! More fun. Bash! Bash! Bash! Yeah, nothing can beat the feeling. Master Chief stared at the victim of Ridley's strength.

"You know, I would've done that if I realized he'd kill us in the end," he said. Ridley, after hearing the loud noise of the crying the robot made, let it go. The Guilty Spark ughed in disgust and somehow, immediately the platform froze.

"Now I'm angry. Never did you know I could do this," he said triumphantly. Ridley signaled for the Elites to grab his leg and hold on, Samus and MC to hold onto his arms, and the Arbiter to hop onto his back when he said now.

"What are you going to do?" 347 taunted.

"Now," he whispered. The Elites ran in and grabbed Ridley's legs, Samus one arm, Master Chief the other, and the Arbiter jumped onto Ridley's back.

"Brotherly love. However, an installation of my intelligence has no time for-" 347 was interrupted by Ridley extending his wings. Ridley flapped and winded the 347 back a little, stunning its core memory for a few seconds, and Ridley shot into the air and flew out the door.

The view was amazing. Samus stared out into the sky with awe as she dangled off of Ridley's arm. The door behind them had shut, and it was only a matter of time before the annoying little sphere opens it again to get its revenge. The sky was grey with other assorted colors, and it was dusk. The sun was setting beyond the Halo. Ridley huffed in disgust. He prefers the overwhelming sight of acid rain pouring from large dark-violet clouds onto the purple soil of his Homeworld. But I guess no one always gets what they want. Ahead of them was a replica of what was behind them, and Ridley had to bust the door down with brute force. Yeah, that crappy little robot caused this. But Ridley loves the feeling of wind brushing against his scales much more than waiting ten minutes on his feet on a slow moving platform. Ridley lowered to a balcony and let the others off, and he felt much lighter and relief. Always a good feeling.

"To save potential energy, is there a code punch in that which I can hack nearby?" Ridley asked. The Arbiter looked around. Nope. Ridley recognized the look. "There's got to be something," Ridley said. The Arbiter shook his head. Ridley growled and went to the door crack. It was just open enough for him to pry the thing open. Ridley is super strong. It'd work. "Here goes nothing," Ridley screeched as he rubbed his hands together. Without thinking, he inserted a claw into the crack, and follwed suit with the other. He started to pull the two sides apart. Once the crack got wide enough, Ridley put his claw feet in as well and started to pry it with them as well. He extended his wings for comfort on his muscles. Ridley looked up and blew fire on the two door sides, making the door weaker so that he could pry it much more easily. Huta and Tura, the Arbiter, MC, and Samus looked at Ridley. That must be hard. Samus shot a Super Missle at the door, and it shot open a little more easily. Ridley held the door open at full force, now at his whole body length. He looked down and saw something disturbing. Before telling you what it was and if it was living or not, Ridley twisted the sides of the door and ripped one end off, and slammed the metal into the disturbing thing-which was a living Taridian. The Taridian exploded, and the door refused to shut now that Ridley had ripped the metal out. Once Ridley realized it refused, he dropped down in a dive-bomb fashion, re-extended his wings, and rose with no warning at the balcony.

"Who's ready to stop Phantoon?" Ridley asked. The protagonists jumped onto Ridley in the same manner, and they flew into the second section of the Library...which, did I mention, the second part was dark? Not pitch black, just oddly dim with a flickering light in every room. Inviting.

"Keep on your toes," Ridley said. "I saw a Taridian in here." The lights flickered on and off, and repeated. The protagonists heard a low gurgling growl-one that does not belong to Ridley. "Crap," Ridley said. Taridians.

They walked slowly ahead and opened a piston to jump down; Ridley always went first. Eventually they ran into a room that was overrun with Taridian hives. Once again, crap. Ridley gently hovered over the hives, but the others had to slowly weave their way across the sickening hives.

"Curse Mother Brain," Ridley said. "Curse myself for having the thought of creating it."

"Don't say that," Cortana told Ridley. "It's a power nearly no creature could resist." Ridley thought for a moment.

"True." They left the room with the Taridians. Glad that's over. Ahead of them was a balcony that had two stories and a large space beyond it. In Halo 2, you enter this room, and it has dead marines, Flood everywhere, sentry bots in the space along with one mega-sentry bot. The open space shaped like a dome is too large to jump down. But I'll let you in on a secret: the bottom of the dome leads to a small network of passageways that leads to the outside faster. Truly, I just made that up, but since I don't want to explain every single hallway nor jump ahead too far, it was necessary. And, oh, how convenient! The protagonists just so happens to have a winged gargantuan on their side! Yeah, I know. Those sarcasm jokes are getting old, especially because I started to use them more often when they left Enrekeita. (The Space Pirate Homeworld, for those people who like to jump ahead in stories) Ridley nodded and they grabbed his legs/arms, and one of them hopped onto Ridley's back. The Taridians were coming. Ridley had heard it. "Get ready," Ridley said. He jumped down and extended his wings. While a force did grab him and jerk him upward, it was appropriate to fly so harsh. They flew to the bottom gently and docked. The Elites, MC, Samus, and the Arbiter jumped off Ridley. Behind them was a battlefield. Maybe extremely handy for a battle. But ahead of them was a door, and that's what they were headed for. Ridley jet-speeded hisself to the door. The others ran theirself to the door. Ridley didn't pick-lock it-me melted it. Original, huh? He made the doorway bigger by melting it, and walked in. The protagonists followed suit.

You'll never guess what was in the next room. You'll never believe me. Taridians? Nope. Even worse. But what could be worse than Taridians? Ask the protagonists. The room was a large hallway with two stories, lined with safety glass containers. Inside were hibernating creatures. These creatures floated, had fangs, and were small, and had a round head that revealed their brain. Any idea yet? Metroids. Yeah, we just had to have them.

"The bugger took a portion of our Metroids to the facility!" Ridley whispered, looking at the hibernating creatures. It's weird-no known and official way to kill a Metroid. In Metroid for the NES, release 1986, you had to freeze the Metroids and shoot five missles at them. Pretty creative for its time in the video game world on killing an enemy. Same tactic in Metroid II and Super Metroid, Metroid Zero Mission (which is just a remake of Metroid for the NES), possibly Metroid Fusion. But in the Prime Saga, you could merely kill a Metroid by just shooting it nonstop with no mercy. That, I believe, is a better and logical solution to the life-sucking creatures.

Anyway, Samus remembered it's really Ridley's fault anything happened at all. She'd be a normal citizen on Earth and/or K-2L, of the K-2Ls, with no war. No conflict from the Space Pirates at all-if Ridley never did anything. But Samus couldn't do anything about Ridley right now. They could use all the help they could get. The Arbiter got lost in the large hall with Huta as the others were proceeding. The room was so dim most likely the others first of all won't notice they're gone, and most likely they're lost too. The Arbiter sniffed a container. No single whiff of the Flood. These creatures were worse than Flood, but so small. How could that be so? The Arbiter accidentally backed in and knocked a container over. It made a clanking noise, and the once hibernating Metroid inside was going crazy with rage. The Arbiter stared at it with disgust. It was ugly-and seemed about as aggressive as a Hunter Flood. And this was just one Metroid. The Arbiter and Huta turned around and walked on slowly.

"Arbiter...how is this any of our business?" Huta asked. the Arbiter looked down.

"If the rings are fired, we are doomed. You must think, Huta," the Arbiter replied. He felt pain and a sudden urge to hear Phantoon and his wise...no, unwise words. The impulse was weak, but seemed to get stronger by the five minute passed. _Shatter! _The Arbiter and Huta immediately turned around and saw the glass busted-and the Metroid was floating in the air. The Arbiter gasped as the creature screeched ear-deafeningly and dashed at the two. The Arbiter jumped out of the way and fired. Ridley raised his head and looked in the direction of the loud Fuel Rod's noise.

"Arbiter...did you set the Metroid free?" Ridley whispered to himself. He dashed out to the source of the noise. Samus heard it as well, so she sprung into action. Purposely fired gunshots, never a good sign in a room lined with Metroid containers. Ridley met with Samus, and Ridley glared at her. They may be on the same side, for now, but that doesn't mean they can't despise each other to no end.

"It came from over there," Ridley said in a serious tone. Ridley started to walk in the direction he pointed out. Samus followed him and stayed nearby.

"Ridley...why did you decide to join forces with us? I mean, with me on their side and everything," Samus wondered. Ridley turned his head halfway.

"You and I both currently have the same target," Ridley said. "But don't get your hopes up on me staying over here." Samus nodded, just after Ridley turned his head back.

The Arbiter threw his empty-ammoed Fuel Rod at the Metroid in rage. "Take that, vile creature!" the Arbiter called. The Metroid got hit, but merely staggered in mid air. It regained its levitation and looked at Huta. It screeched and aimed straight for Huta, and dashed. The Arbiter reached out, yelling "Noo!" but the Metroid fastened itself on the helpless Huta's neck. Huta fell to the ground, stunned, and the Metroid enjoyed itself of the life it was taking out. The Arbiter beat down on the Metroid, and it eventually exploded, which brought back memories of the Flood. Huta was squirming wildly on the floor, a large hole in its neck from the Metroid's fangs.

"Yulan Ifra Hutania! Are you well?" the Arbiter screamed. Huta coughed out Elite guts, and his head fell back to hit the Floor. Huta was dead. The Arbiter, after a few seconds of grieving, stomped the ground in rage and kicked a container over. And guess what? The Metroid in there bust itself out as well. The Arbiter narrowed its eyes at the Metroid and ran for his life-but not really as much out of fear, as much as the feeling you get after you want revenge on something but know you can't hurt it without risk.

Ridley heard the screech of a Metroid again and identified the vibrations in his mind. "Samus, more Metroids have escaped," Ridley told Samus, who was following him. He identified the vibrations as totally different than the first-was the first still intact? After much running, in which was hard for Ridley because Samus had to keep up, a _Clank!_ could be heard on Ridley's chest. Ridley stopped, just finally paying attention to the heat signals. The Arbiter lie below Ridley, and Ridley stared at him.

"How many are there?" Ridley asked. The Arbiter opened his eyes.

"As far as I am aware of...one," the Arbiter replied. Ridley held out his claw to help the Arbiter up. Half afraid Ridley was going to slit his wrist, the Arbiter accepted help and got up. He brushed his armor off. "Huta was killed...by the first Metroid," the Arbiter said. Samus gasped. Ridley rolled his eyes.

"Death is a part of life. I wouldn't be surprised if the only ones alive after Phantoon is killed is me, Samus, and that Spartan 117," Ridley said. Samus hit Ridley somewhat lightly-she didn't want to piss him off. It's true-the Elites, including the Arbiter, were most likely to die in this journey, especially because of the Arbiter's corruption. They were hopeless-if Kraid hadn't fought them, they'd most likely still have Ytrian-the shipmaster. Ytrian would easily persist through this place as careful as possible-but Kraid killed him. With Ytrian, the Elites would be more confident-more confident than they are with the Arbiter. Now, besides the Arbiter, only Tura remained. Let's face it-the Elites were screwed. But enough about them. The protagonists had enough on their shoulders right now.

Tura ran nearby and saw the others-and he caught up.

"N'tho Eliba Turaga! Huta is dead..." the Arbiter said. Tura shook his head in shame. This sucks. Ridley looked over at a possibly correct exit.

"We have to get out of here," he said. Everyone nodded. Ridley directed the rest to the door, when Samus just remembered she forgot something.

"John!" Samus called, referring to Master Chief. "John!"

"Spartan!" the Arbiter called. He was more likely to be heard than Samus. Ridley inhaled.

"Spartan 117!!!" he screeched. Whew, that was loud. Ridley screeches pretty dang loud. No response, though. Well, this sucks. MC is now out of the picture...

The remaining protagonists walked to the door. Guess who was there? MC. Yeah, he was at the door, punching in a code, as Cortana called out numbers.

"Spartan?" the Arbiter asked. MC turned his helmet to look at the Arbiter.

"Your corruption is getting worse," MC said. The Arbiter nodded.

"I have thoughts I regret thinking..." the Arbiter replied. A side effect of the blue phazon. Soom, the Arbiter would be corrupted horribly, and most likely, since Krumarai had been...eh, assimilated, the Arbiter's phazonide would make him Phantoon's new understudy. How fun. A sudden shock in the room sent the protagonists into surprise, except Ridley, and the Metroid containers all tipped over. Crap. Slowly but in a steady pace, you could hear tough glass shatter, and one by one, Metroids leaked out and floated in the air, simply staring at the good guys. Ridley sighed. He wasn't too troubled. Why? Hm...

"Get to opening the door, Ridley!" Cortana said. Ridley stood there calmly, staring at the Metroids, no fear being showed. Once Cortana realized he wouldn't do anything, she and MC continued to try and crack the code to continue. But one thing-they were slower, and Cortana wasn't too good at fidgeting with circuitry. The Metroids stared for maybe a few seconds longer. MC was scared-who wouldn't be? The Metroids would assault at any moment. Boy, that really inspires joy, doesn't it? Samus and MC heard the screeches from behind them. MC stayed focused on the lock, while Samus freaked out. There were maybe hundreds-or thousands-of them. What was the most Samus fought at once? Like, seven. The Metroids zipped towards the protagonists, superbly hungry for life energy. Yeah, perfect time to scream W00T. Not. Maybe for the Metroids, but not for the screwed protagonists. But were they screwed? Ridley was still standing there, the others believing he was insane. Which he is, but you know what I mean. He had something up his sleeve...er, spiked arm. The Metroids were close. _Too _close. Yeah, the Metroids were watering at the mouth. Literally. Probably their first meal in ages. They screeched. They twitched their fangs. They were hungry for sure. And Ridley was just standing there. The Metroids got to be about three yards away from the protagonists, when Ridley came through for them. He held up a shining, red orb that occasionally shifted to green in color, but barely. The Metroids stopped, and looked confused. Ridley motioned the orb towards the back of the room, and the Metroids floated over to the back of the room. Quickly, Ridley pushed Master Chief aside and smashed the door down.

"Come," Ridley said. Samus was in awe. She hadn't seen Ridley use that orb since she battled Mother Brain, version 1.0. But, you may be thinking, Ridley never used an orb to...er, control Metroids in the original Metroid, or Zero Mission, for that matter. Relax, folks. It's something I made up to spice the story of the original Metroid up.

"Ridley...you still have the Mertonia Sphere?" Samus asked, as they walked down the hallway of after the door. Ridley hid the orb on his arsenal. "I thought I destroyed it."

"No, you didn't. You destroyed a replica, which is why I still had Mother Brain tamed, even after you 'destroyed' it," Ridley said. That was a crime Samus had to attend to later. She looked ahead to see MC walking ahead, with Tura and the Arbiter.

"Are you going to fix the Arbiter?" Samus asked Ridley. Ridley shrugged slightly.

"Maybe. Depends on his...behavior," Ridley replied. Samus looked back to where she was walking. The Arbiter stopped at a small piston, and opened it. It revealed a chute.

"Down here," he pointed. The others nodded, and Ridley jumped down, furling his wings in. Then MC jumped in, followed by Tura, then the Arbiter. Samus heard a screeching noise behind her, and she jumped in as well. The piston closed behind her.

The chute was amazingly bright, but was slightly fogged up by an eerie red glow. It didn't matter to Samus. She was used to this kind of stuff. The chute kept shifting directions, seemingly, and eventually, they reached a stop, on a floor. The others stood in front of Samus, looking at Ridley walking through the door ahead. A horrible shock was sent through Samus when she walked out and saw the outside. It was an ugly, horrible wasteland. God, worse than Agon Wastes on Aether or the Chozo Ruins on Tallon IV_. Put together_. Yeah, it was that bad. When they had to cross over to the dimmer wing of the Library, it was a beautiful view-I guess Samus never stopped to look down, which you shouldn't in flight while dangling, of course. The area had an eerie green aura with many crashed passages. Guess what lurked among this horrible dump? For one, Space Pirates, who would attempt to kill Samus and/or MC. W00T. Then, the occasional Fission Metroid, which is uglier than a normal Metroid, in which were also somewhat abundant here. The most rare thing to see was a disturbing sight-a tiny, helpless Taridian parasite, stalking a Space Pirate. Perfect. Then, you could also see Phantoon...wha'? Crap. Phantoon was here. Well, why not just shove another heavy load on the protagonists' shoulders. I bet Ridley was _so happy_ to see the floating one-eye-in-mouth telepathic creature.


	10. The Quarantine Zone

**Halo-Year 2557, Quarantine Zone**

Phantoon grimaced slightly. Ridley narrowed his pure yellow eyes. "You get away from the Index! The ring is fine where it is!" he screeched.

"But it is not..." Phantoon said. He said it loudly in his ghastly voice. Ridley did a staring contest with Phantoon. Ridley looked pissed-Phantoon looked calm. Slowly, thoughts ran in Ridley's mind. Disturbing thoughts. The kind of thoughts that put you to sleep and you wake up an our later and you realize you just had a nightmare. Ridley gave no freaking care. He was used to this kind of fear-mostly from the haunting thoughts of Shaun Kiva, Samus...and now, Phantoon.

"Don't you see, Ridley? I am being generous merely, and finishing the Elite's Great Journey..." one of the thoughts were. Phantoon was using telepathy, obviously. _Phantoon, Phantoon...heheh, don't you know? Being generous is _not _in the Space Pirate Codebook, and Arbiter here knows better..._ Ridley thought. Phantoon read his mind, and mentally frowned. He had known this, but Ridley didn't realize one thing-Phantoon didn't give a crap. He was going to do it anyway. "Enjoy the Quarantine Zone, Ridley. It is where you belong..." Phantoon transferred the thought. Since Ridley was obviously deep in thought, Phantoon started to have his one eye glow in a rainbow color. Once Samus had noticed what Phantoon was doing, she shoved Ridley as hard as she could. He budged just a bit, but got the message, and ducked immediately. Out of Phantoon's eye, a rainbow colored shot flew out through the air, and barely missed Ridley. It hit the door behind the protagonists, and the door exploded into, like, five pieces. The area about ten feet from the beam's previous path was lit by a blue, harsh fire. Luckily, everyone dodged it. Phantoon waved a tentacle, as if saying good-bye, and started to float away. Out of rage, Ridley extended his wings and shot after Phantoon, who was just floating slowly towards the structure that held the Index. About halfway through the area, Ridley realized something: he could just teleport, but he was floating there. What was going on? A trap? Ridley halted and let Phantoon continue. Now, to continue himself. Phantoon waited for Ridley-the annoying little bugger. Ridley ignored Phantoon and crash down a door. Once Ridley walked through, he was in shock. Ahead of him was a phazon pit-worse yet, a new enhanced version of an old enemy sat it front of Ridley. _The Omega Pirate, V2.0, _Ridley thought. Crap. Metroid Prime junkies, this scene will add to your fair share of this cross-over. Enjoy it as much as possible.

Samus, MC, and the Elites were already running past the freaking scary little inhabitants of the wasteland. Without a care in the world but to catch up to Ridley and Phantoon. Samus reached the door first and opened it. After she ran in, the others followed. Jeez, the look on the Elites faces and maybe even MC and Samus's would make you crack up. They saw the Omega Pirate V2.0 as well. Ridley was looking at it, astonished as well. He didn't give a single care that his temporary allies were behind him, equally astonished. Except Ridley had one more feeling inside of him: rage. Yes, rage. But of course, if a traitor stole your creations, wouldn't you be pissed? I know I would. A warning to those people who are thinking of spamming me right now. Which is unlikely. I hope.

"I have to protect myself as much as possible," Phantoon said. "Get them!" The gargantuan body that was nearly completely corrupted by phazon raised its two arms, and a blue electric current linked the arms plasmatically. Ridley rocketed into the air, and Phantoon was washed over with sudden fury because he forgot Ridley could do that. Phantoon unleashed a powerful brain wave that hit the Omega Pirate V2.0. It wobbled a bit, and faced Ridley. It was going to zap Ridley out of the sky. Ridley, slightly startled and thinking fast, started zooming in unpredicted directions. The Omega Pirate followed every last move.

"This is our chance," Samus whispered. The others nodded and started to sneak past the preoccupied phazonide gargantuan. They slipped past its legs with not a sound, but they were absent-minded about one thing-Phantoon was still there.

"_You're _not going anywhere," he said demandingly, as if speaking to the Arbiter. The Arbiter started to dash towards the other side of the room, but was suddenly picked off the ground.

"By the Prophets," the Arbiter said, startled at the levitation. He was struggling to get loose, but who can escape a telepathic grip?

"Put him down you fiend!" Samus called, and started shooting at Phantoon. The Omega Pirate stopped a moment and looked at Phantoon, who signaled for him to continue on zapping Ridley. The Omega Pirate looked back at Ridley, still charged. Which was a big mistake. Ridley zipped into the Omega Pirate at jetspeed, and it trembled harshly. The Omega Pirate hit the floor, and large clouds of dust rose. The others were trying to fire Phantoon down, but were stopped by the clouds of dust. After a few seconds, the dust subsided, and nothing was there, except an unconscious Omega Pirate and Ridley hovering above it.

"That went well," he said, and Samus scowled at him.

"The Arbiter is gone," she said.

"I know. I also knew that Phantoon would take him because of his corruption and the fact he is the leader of the race that Phantoon is trying to finish's Great Journey."

"You knew that?"

"It's common sense, Samus," Ridley said assuringly. They heard an annoying roar behind them with hundreds of buzzing noises. Guilty Spark. "We should get going."

* * *

**Halo-Year 2557, The Library Dungeon Quarters**

The Arbiter lay on the floor inside his cell, unconscious. This sucked. Maybe Phantoon will make the Arbiter his puppet. Once the Arbiter had awaken, he felt more corrupted. And pain. Lots of pain. The corruption was reaching its fullest. Not good.

"I see you've seen your new room, heheh," the Arbiter heard a voice say. He looked up and saw Phantoon, floating, past the blue forcefield shield. The Arbiter got up and punched the shield, only to zap himself.

"Why?" he said lowly. Phantoon sighed.

"_Why _do you keep asking that? The answer is as simple as I am trying to finish what your Prophets were never truly able to finish," Phantoon retorted, somewhat angry.

"The Prophets...were frauds. The Great Journey is a lie," the Arbiter said.

"And that is where you are wrong," Phantoon whispered. The Arbiter huffed threateningly. "You see, your Prophets were merely...trying to put you out of your misery, and kill the humans as well."

"But you are going to do it for selfish reasons. You are going to wipe half the universe clean with phazon, and the other half will bow to you," the Arbiter said.

"That's the plan. But, you know, think of it this way-your friends will all be dead, and you...heheh, you will be my highest slave in our hierarchy," Phantoon replied. The Arbiter flinched. _Phantoon's minion? I'd rather be slit on the throat by the Prophets, _the Arbiter thought.

"And why is that?" Phantoon asked. He'd read the Arbiter's mind. "Because they tried to destroy the whole galaxy? You don't get it, do you_? You_, Aribiter_. You _were selected to be one of the few survivors. Do you understand? The Great Journey was meant for you and you only to travel!" The Arbiter thought of his corruption. Phazon was immune to any kind of explosion except of its homeworld, Phaaze. He would survive the Halos being fired. He would become top slave. He would help Phantoon rule the galaxy. But was it really worth it?

"Why me?" the Arbiter asked, lowly.

"Because you have gone through enough trouble. You failed to stop the first Halo from exploding, as the result of Master Chief. The Prophets punished you by searing your chest. They decided to truly punish you by giving you the role of the Arbiter and sent you on missions nearly no one can survive. But you did. You learn they betrayed you, and you kill Tartarus and start an alliance with humans."

"How do you know all that?"

"Telepathy," Phantoon replied. "I am helping you, Arbiter. Without the corruption, you would die along with all of your allies. This will make you have eternal life."

"But, there's a problem with that plan. I wouldn't have any friends once the rings are fired..." the Arbiter said.

"But you would. The other phazonide minions-"

"Would be my slaves as well as yours. Phantoon, have you ever thought about the difference between friendship and slavery? Friends are people who are always there for you, no matter what. They'll fight by your side, and risk their own life to save you. Slaves are people who you force to do these things, and they will always hate you, no matter how many miniature gems you give them for a holiday bonus. And you know what, Phantoon? I wish not to be your slave," the Arbiter interrupted. Phantoon stuttered, struggling to say something, but didn't. He just hmped, and disappeared. The Arbiter felt a sudden pain surge through his brain. He clenched his hands into fists.

_Obey..._

The thoughts were haunting. He had a sudden impulse to listen to Phantoon...and follow what he says. But the Arbiter's heart demanded control. _I will not obey, Phantoon._

_Obey..._

_No, I will not follow your treacherous commands._

_Obey!_

The Arbiter looked over to one side, and the other, and the other side again. Phantoon was nowhere.

_You know you wish to._

The Arbiter _knew _it was Phantoon. Or...maybe, he only thought that? What if...oh, no.

_I am your conscience, Arbiter. You will do as I say, or suffer the consequence that is insanity._

The Arbiter had to fight it. He knew he could. But how can you fight your own conscience? The Arbiter hit the laser shield that jailed him. Useless. What was happening to him? Was it the corruption? Or was it just Phantoon, pulling strings again? The Arbiter felt something-it felt like a parasite, crawling directly underneath his skin. He felt a wave of warmth overcome him, then he grew cold. Suddenly, everything went black.

_Is this what death feels like...?_

* * *

**Halo-Year 2557, Quarantine Zone**

"Well, let's face it. We're screwed," Ridley said.

"Ridley, we haven't even gotten that far," Cortana replied.

"I know. But I also know that in the end, we're screwed. It's like...my instinct is telling me this," Ridley said. You could hear Cortana sigh faintly. They were on their way towards the center, where they'd find the Index. 347 Guilty Spark wasn't far behind, but wasn't close, either. Which is why the protagonists were moving, not stopping. Ever.

The bunch nearly made it outside again, and everyone could tell that Ridley was exhausted and wanted to simply fly towards this Index. Then he was almost depressed hearing Tura say it's within a cavern, and the technology rests inside. This was going to be a long time before reaching the Index.

Finally, they made it outside. Unfortunately, Metroids were floating everywhere, Common Metroids, Hunter Metroids, Fission Metroids, Young Metroids...and to top that, Taridian larvae lurked everywhere as well as Space Pirates. The Metroids ate the Taridians. The Taridians posessed the Space Pirates. The Space Pirates rid of Metroids using brute force. It sort of felt like the whole freaking life-cycle in one field. A battlescarred field, I might add. Despite Ridley was with her, the Space Pirates were bound to attempt to kill Samus and Master Chief, since MC looks like a Galactic Federation troop. Honestly, folks, nothing too interesting happens here. I might as well skip on ahead.

* * *

The Arbiter woke, and felt odd. He looked at his surroundings, noticing there was just blackness in all directions. Puzzled, he saw something unnerving-he didn't have a body. 

_Where am I? What is going on?_ He asked, hoping Phantoon would respond.

_That is unimportant, _a voice replied.

_But I wish to know!_

_If I told you where you are, you wouldn't believe me, _it replied.

_Fine, then. Who are you?_

_Arbiter, have you ever heard anyone say there is a good conscience and a bad conscience within everyone?_

_Yes._

_Well, I am your bad conscience. Your evil conscience. I am the thoughts you think when you are angry, or merely seek revenge. I am not good in any way. You, however, are your good conscience. But now, your good conscience has no control over your body. Only I do._

_What do you mean?..._

_I mean your consciences are separate now. Where are you? You are in your own mind, Arbiter. But you have no control over your body. You cannot even see what your body's eyes see. That is how much control you lack. I control you, now. I can see through your eyes..._

_How did this happen?_

_You are too stupid to learn that? The phazon. It has finally taken control of you, 100. Now, your good conscience is only a mere voice, your only voice, I might add, that exists solely within your own brain. You can think, but I can flush out thoughts. Your good side is useless. Now, you are useless. I am...replacing you, if you wish to call it that, though your body remains, and I control it._

The Arbiter was stumped. How strange...

_As we speak, I am walking with Phantoon, ready to blast the Halos...and, basically, there is nothing you can do to stop us._

_Phantoon...betrayed me?_

_Correct. I now suggest you stop thinking. You're giving me a headache._

Well, this was confusing. The phazon took control of the Arbiter totally, and his own brain has locked him away? This barely makes sense, I know, but you'll get used to it. And...Phantoon betrayed the Arbiter, too? The Arbiter must have it tough, since he had so many betrayals in his life.

* * *

**Halo-Year 2557, Quarantine Zone**

"Damn. We're close, and I smell Phantoon," Ridley said metaphorically. They had just made it into the main chamber where the Index would be placed. But they had been beaten to it. Phantoon was hiding in invisibility like always, but Ridley knew he was hiding. He knows Phantoon too well.

"Show yourself!" Ridley yelled. Nothing happened as the sound echoed off the walls of the large corridor.

"Ridley, Phantoon isn't in here. We beat him to it," Samus said.

"No. No we hadn't. That's exactly what he wants you to think. You humans and your under-developed instincts believe you can detect everything when you can't even hear what I hear, see what I see, and smell what I smell. I know he's hiding. He knows he will be beaten as soon as he reveals himself. I will bet that he has a different plan than using his own strength, which is typical for himself. Phantoon is stupid," Ridley spoke.

Phantoon heard the speech and grew angry.

"Let's go, Minuosa!" he whispered. Ridley flinched.

"He speaks," Ridley said lowly, and readied his battlehammer. Suddenly, a dark blue figure jumped out from behind a pillar and started swinging at Ridley with an Energy Sword. Ridley took a few blows and fell back, bleeding. "What the hell?"

"Oh my God. It's the Arbiter!" Cortana said. The dark figure turned to look at Master Chief and snarled.

"Gaah!" it roared.

"I am not the Arbiter. I am Minuosa!" it barked. It attempted to leap towards Master Chief, but Ridley quickly slammed it into the wall.

"Go! Go to the Index slot!" Ridley screeched. The others quickly ran past the conflict zone and at the Index slot.

"Where's the Index?" Samus asked, nervous.

"I have it," a calm voice replied. The protagonists looked at the air in different directions, eventually seeing Phantoon appear out of nowhere.

"Hand it over!" Samus said.

"Why should I?" Phantoon quickly slipped past the protagonists and inserted the Index. "Hahahah, imbeciles! The rings shall be fired!" Phantoon pressed a button, and the machinery fired up. Samus shot Phantoon's eye with a Missle, which led to Phantoon starting to flail around. Ridley jumped at the vulnerable ghost and held him down.

"You're too late, Ridley," Phantoon said. The machinery stopped. "What the-?"

"You need one more item to fire this ring, Phantoon," Samus said. "And it's on a different planet."

"Curses!" Phantoon barked. Ridley quickly shoved his claws into Phantoon's eye, and Phantoon flinched. "Gaah!"

**_WARNING: SELF-DESTRUCTION OF THE LIBRARY INITIATED_**

"Oh, crap!" Samus said. "Take the Index out!"

"Not so fast," Phantoon disappeared from Ridley's grasp and snatched the Index. "This belongs to me." Samus attempted to jump at Phantoon, but Ridley pulled her back to keep her from even trying an attempt that was bound to fail. "Good-bye. Come, Minuosa!" The Dark Arbiter followed Phantoon's command and left out the opening where a ceiling would be.

"We will get it back. Manually," Ridley said. "We must return to the Stinger. Everyone, get on!" The protagonists jumped onto Ridley's back, and Ridley took off. He left out the ceiling, and went over the Quarantine Zone to where they landed the Stinger. Samus went in, and fired it up. They took off from the Halo.


	11. Epilogue

"What was with the Arbiter?" Cortana asked. "Something wasn't very natural about him..."

"It was the corruption," Ridley replied. "It overtook him as expected. He is not what he seems to be."

"How do we fix him?" Master Chief asked, mumbling. Samus and Ridley looked down.

"We can't," Samus replied. "He is no longer the Arbiter. He is Minuosa now..."

"What's the planet we need to go to to find the Memory?" Ridley asked. Samus shrugged.

"I don't know. I think we need to contact the GFS for it," she replied. Ridley sighed.

"Damn it," he said. "I'm going to have trouble getting in."

The protagonists failed-for now. Phantoon still has to find the Memory, however. Can the protagonists make it?

Now, a lot of you may be wondering what happened to 347 Guilty Spark. Well, he got caught in the explosion. (Crowd cheers)

Thus, ends Halo vs. Metroid: The Great Journey. But, the saga is not over yet...that would be just plain anti-climactic!

**Coming soon-Halo vs. Metroid: The Sacred Planet**


End file.
